'i 


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^^^ 


ntuet^git^  of  d^ 


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INSIDE  THE 
MACHINE 


TWO    YEARS 


IN    THE 


V'    '1 


BOARD  of  ALDERMEN 
1898  -   1899 


P.  TECUMSEH   SHERMAN 


•MP*Ji*iap* 


19  01 

COOKER      FRY 

New  York 


INSIDE  THE  MACHINE 


TWO   YEARS    IN 
THE    BOARD    OF   ALDERMEN 

1898 — 1899 


A    STUDY    OF    THE     LEGISLATIVE     FEATURES    OF    THE     CITY     GOVIRNMENT 

OF    NEW    YORK    CITY    UNDER    THE    GREATER 

NEW    YORK    CHARTER 


P.  TECUMSEH    SHERMAN 


COOKE     &    FRY 

New   Yo  r  k 

I  9  o  I 


COPYRIGHT^  1901. 
COOKE  &  FRY. 

SPRECKELS 


INTKODUCTORY. 

In  the  early  part  of  1897  there  was  enacted  by  the 
State  of  New  York  a  law  known  as  "The  Greater 
New  York  Charter."  This  statute  was  drawn  by 
a  commission  composed  of  such  men  as  Gen.  Benj. 
F.  Tracy,  Judge  John  F.  Dillon,  Seth  Low,  Gen. 
Stewart  L.  Woodford,  Mayor  William  L.  Strong, 
and  some  ten  others.  And  while  it  had  been 
severely  condemned  by  the  Bar  Association  of  New 
York  City,  and  severely  criticised  at  the  public 
hearings  held  before  the  Mayor  of  that  city,  and 
only  forced  through  the  Legislature  over  his  veto 
under  extreme  pressure  as  a  Republican  party 
measure,  yet  it  was  generally  hoped  that  it  would 
greatly  promote  the  welfare  of  all  the  municipal- 
ities embraced  in  the  new  city,  and  mark  a  dis- 
tinct advance  in  the  science  of  city  government 
in  America.  By  this  Charter  there  were  annexed 
to  the  former  City  of  New  York,  Brooklyn,  Long 
Island  City,  with  the  adjoining  territory  on  Long 
Island  constituting  the  present  County  of  Queens, 
and  all  of  Richmond  County  or  Staten  Island. 
By  this  change,  the  population  of  the  city  was  in- 
creased from  about  2,019,000  to  about  3,393,000; 
and  its  area  was  enlarged  from  38,000  to  196,000 
acres.  For  this  new  city  was  framed  a  system  of 
government  based  in  its  minor  details  on  that  of 
the  former  city,  but  in  its  principles  entirely  dif- 

Q 


ferent.  And  in  its  government  were  vested  powers 
far  more  extensive  than  those  possessed  by  the 
former  city.  The  principal  additional  powers  con- 
ferred were:  to  establish  ferries  and  bridges  over 
public  waters  within  the  city;  to  build  docks  and 
to  improve  the  harbor;  to  construct  parks,  school- 
houses  and  public  buildings;  to  open  and  extend 
streets;  to  provide  water;  and  to  grant  franchises. 
These  powers  were  conferred  upon  the  city  in  re- 
sponse to  a  general  demand  for  a  larger  measure 
of  home  rule,  so  that  constant  applications  to  the 
State  Legislature  for  the  above  enumerated  pur- 
poses would  no  longer  be  necessary.  This  new 
government,  by  the  terms  of  the  Charter,  went  into 
effect  on  January  1st,  1898,  and  the  first  election 
for  city  officers  under  it  was  held  in  November, 
1897. 

That  election  was  one  of  the  most  bitterly  con- 
tested in  the  history  of  the  city.  The  Kepublicans 
nominated  General  Tracy  for  Mayor  upon  the  plat- 
form that  city  governments  should  be  administered 
upon  national  party  principles ;  a  new  independent 
organization,  known  as  the  Citizens'  Union,  nomi- 
nated Seth  Low,  President  of  Columbia  College, 
upon  the  platform  that  national  parties  should  take 
no  part  in  city  politics;  the  Jeffersonian  Democ- 
racy nominated  Henry  George,  who  ran  as  the  ad- 
vocate of  his  well-known  semi-socialistic  prin- 
ciples; and  Tammany  Hall  nominated  Eobert  A. 
Van  Wyck,  a  judge  of  good  reputation,  but  who 
stood  simply  as  the  representative  of  Tammany 
and  all  that  it  represents,  and  who  personally  took 
no  part  in  the  campaign.  A  hot  four-cornered 
fight  followed,  with  somewhat  even  chances,  until 
Henry  George  died,  and    his    votes    or    possible 

4 


votes  slipped  back  by  natural  affiliations  to  Tam- 
many. From  that  time  on,  the  result  was  a  fore- 
gone conclusion,  though  the  opponents  of  Van 
Wyck  tried  hard  to  shut  their  eyes  to  a  realization 
of  the  fact.  Tammany  carried  its  ticket  trium- 
phantly, though  it  failed  of  a  majority  over  Low 
and  Tracy  combined;  Low  was  second  and  Tracy, 
in  spite  of  his  personal  popularity,  a  poor  third. 

It  was  in  this  election  that  the  writer  was  elected 
a  member  of  the  first  Board  of  Aldermen  of  the 
City  of  New  York,  from  the  25th  District,  in  the 
Borough  of  Manhattan.  My  experiences  with  the 
Charter  began  immediately ;  for  I  found  that  it  re- 
quired me  to  take  an  oath  of  office  and  file  it  within 
five  days  with  an  official  who  did  not  exist,  and 
who  could  not  exist  until  the  new  government  was 
Inaugurated,  some  two  months  later.  After  some 
perturbation,  I  filed  the  oath  with  the  official  in  the 
then  existing  government  most  nearly  resembling 
that  mentioned  in  the  Charter.  Subsequent  ex- 
periences demonstrated  that  the  Charter  was  full 
of  such  defects. 

The  Charter  is  a  statute  of  some  five  hundred 
and  sixty  pages.  In  a  technical  sense,  it  is  not  a 
Charter,  but  merely  a  loose  compilation  of  rules 
and  regulations  relating  to  the  city  government 
and  its  various  officials,  boards,  departments  and 
bureaus,  together  with  a  few  clauses  containing 
some  additional  grants  of  power  to  the  corporation. 
By  itself,  it  is  by  no  means  complete  as  to  any  mat- 
ter to  which  it  or  any  part  of  it  relates;  but  it 
must  be  read  in  connection  with  the  Consolidation 
Act,  which  was  the  corresponding  charter  of  the 
former  city,  and  itself  a  statute  of  some  four  hun- 
dred   pages, — none   of   which   is   specifically   re- 

5 


pealed, — and  the  various  acts  amending  it,  or  re- 
lating to  the  different  municipalities  and  corpora- 
tions annexed  to  the  former  city,  which  are  dis- 
tributed through  some  thirty  volumes  of  New  York 
Session  Laws.  Thus  the  Charter  was  not  even  an 
attempt  at  a  codification  or  a  revision  of  former 
laws.  And  the  government  that  has  resulted  from 
the  operation  of  this  ill-digested  mass  of  laws  is 
naturally  not  a  logical  system,  but  a  complication 
so  intricate  and  involved  that  no  idea  as  to  how  it 
would  work  in  practice  could  be  obtained  in  ad- 
vance of  the  practical  experiment. 


J 


THE  GENERAL  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE 

CITY. 

Before  attempting  to  recite  or  describe  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Municipal  Assembly,  it  will  be  nec- 
essary to  enumerate  and  briefly  explain  the  con- 
stitution and  functions  of  the  different  boards,  de- 
partments and  officials  of  the  city  government  in 
which  its  legislative  powers  are  vested.  For  they 
are  widely  distributed,  and  only  a  small  part  of 
them  is  vested  in  the  Assembly. 

The  Mayor  is  the  chief  executive  officer  of  the 
city.  He  is  elected  every  four  years,  and  is  not 
eligible  for  re-election  at  the  next  succeeding  term. 
He  receives  a  salary  of  $15,000  a  year.  He  may  be 
removed  by  the  Governor,  but  only  upon  charges, 
and  after  an  opportunity  to  be  heard  in  his  own 
defense.  He  appoints  the  heads  of  all  the  various 
boards,  and  departments,  except  the  Department 
of  Finance,  whose  head,  the  Comptroller,  is 
elected,  and  of  the  Departments  of  Health 
and  Education,  which  are  governed  by  Boards 
whose  members  are  variously  elected  and 
appointed.  He  also  appoints  the  Chamberlain, 
the  President  of  the  Board  of  Public  Improvements, 
the  two  Commissioners  of  Accounts,  the  three  Civil 
Service  Commissioners,  twenty-three  Police  Magis- 
trates, the  heads  of  the  Bureau  of  Municipal  Sta- 
tistics, and  various  minor  officials.    All  of  these^  ex- 

7 


cept  the  Magistrates,  he  can  remove  at  pleasure  dur- 
ing the  first  six  months  of  his  term ;  but  thereafter, 
with  the  exception  of  the  Commissioners  of  Ac- 
counts, only  upon  charges,  and  with  the  approval 
of  the  Governor.  He  is  ex-oflficio  a  member  of 
many  important  Boards,  including  the  Board  of 
Estimate  and  Apportionment,  the  Board  of  Public 
Improvements,  and  the  Board  of  Sinking  Fund 
Commissioners,  in  which  the  most  important  leg- 
islative as  well  as  a  large  part  of  the  administra- 
tive powers  of  the  city  are  vested.  He  is  also  armed 
with  the  absolute  power  of  appointment  and  of  re- 
moval over  two  Commissioners  of  Accounts,  who 
control  a  clerical  force  with  a  payroll  of  over  |150,- 
000  a  year,  through  whom  he  can  investigate  any 
department  of  the  city  government.  He  has  also 
a  veto  over  all  acts  of  the  Municipal  Assembly. 

It  was  the  declared  purpose  of  those  who  drew 
the  Charter  to  confer  upon  the  Mayor  the  greatest 
possible  power  and  consequent  responsibility.  And 
upon  reading  the  above  recital  of  his  powers,  it 
would  perhaps  seem  that  they  had  succeeded.  But 
unfortunately  this  impression  is  wrong.  For  after 
the  time  within  which  the  Mayor  can  remove  at 
pleasure  has  expired,  his  power  over  adminstration 
practically  ceases,  for  it  then  becomes  firmly  vested 
in  the  heads  of  departments,  and  to  remove  them 
upon  charges  is  in  the  nature  of  a  criminal  pro- 
ceeding and  practically  impossible  save  in  case  of 
the  most  flagrant  dereliction  of  duty.  And  with 
the  power  passes  the  responsibility.  It  therefore 
resolves  itself  to  this,  that  the  Mayor's  respon- 
sibility for  administration  ceases  when  he  has  exer- 
cised due  care  and  discretion  in  his  selection  of 
the  Commissioners  and  other  heads  of  departments. 

8 


And  thereafter,  all  responsibility  passes  to  those 
practically  irremovable  officials.  The  Mayor's 
power,  as  conferred  by  the  Charter,  is  therefore 
limited  to  his  vote  in  the  different  Boards  hereafter 
described,  and  to  his  veto  over  the  acts  of  the  As- 
sembly. In  addition,  he  has  the  power  conferred 
upon  him  by  general  law  to  veto  all  special  acts  of 
the  Legislature  relating  to  the  city,  subject  to  the 
power  of  the  Legislature  to  repass  the  same  over  his 
veto. 

The  administrative  departments  of  the  City 
Government  are  fixed  and  constituted  by  the 
Charter.     They  are: 

The  Department  of  Finance. 

The  Departments  represented  in  the  Board  of 
Public  Improvements : 
Water  Supply. 
Streets  and  Highways. 
Street  Cleaning. 
Sewers. 
Bridges. 
Public  Buildings,  Lighting  and  Supplies. 

The  Law  Department. 

The  Police  Department. 

The  Fire  Department. 

The  Department  of  Taxes  and  Assessments. 

The  Department  of  Parks. 

The  Department  of  Docks  and  Ferries. 

The  Department  of  Buildings. 

The  Department  of  Public  Charities. 

The  Department  of  Correction. 

The  Department  of  Education. 

The  Department  of  Health. 

The  heads  of  all  these  departments,  except  those 
of  Finance,  Health,  and  Education,  are  appointed 

9 


directly  by  the  Mayor,  and  receive  salaries  on  the 
average  of  $7,500  a  year  each.  They  have  control 
over  the  appointment,  promotion,  transfer  and  dis- 
charge of  all  subordinates,  subject  only  to  the  civil 
service  laws;  and  fix  their  salaries.  While  these 
departments  are  described  as  administrative,  yet 
they  include  two  Boards  which  possess  very  large 
legislative  powers.  They  are  the  Board  of  Esti- 
mate and  Apportionment,  which  is  included  in  the 
Department  of  Finance,  and  the  Board  of  Public 
Improvements. 

The  Department  of  Finance  consists  of  five 
bureaus  and  two  boards.  The  bureaus  are  for  the 
collection  of  revenues,  for  the  collection  of  taxes, 
for  the  collection  of  assessments  and  arrears  of 
taxes,  for  auditing,  and  for  the  safe  keeping  and 
payment  of  money.  The  Comptroller  is  the  head 
of  this  department.  He  is  elected  at  large  for  the 
same  term  as  the  Mayor,  and  receives  a  salary  of 
|10,000  a  year,  besides  very  lucrative  fees.  He  ap- 
points the  heads  of  the  first  three  enumerated 
bureaus  and  all  the  subordinates  in  the  department, 
except  those  in  the  last  bureau  mentioned,  and  is 
himself  the  head  of  the  auditing  bureau.  The 
bureau  for  the  safe  keeping  and  payment  of  money 
is  in  charge  of  the  Chamberlain,  who  is  appointed 
by  the  Mayor  for  a  term  of  four  years  and  receives 
a  salary  of  |12,000  a  year,  besides  large  fees.  In 
general,  payments  by  the  city  are  made  by  the 
Comptroller,  upon  vouchers  filed  in  his  department, 
by  warrants  drawn  on  the  Chamberlain.  No  valid 
contract  can  be  made  unless  the  Comptroller  certify 
that  there  remains  unexpended  and  unapplied  a 
sufficient  balance  of  the  appropriation  or  fund  ap- 
plicable thereto.    He  is  the  proper  officer  to  enter 

10 


into  any  lease  of  property  to  the  city;  and  his 
assent  is  necessary  to  all  purchases  of  real  estate. 

This  department  issues  the  "city  stock."  The 
bonds  of  the  city  issued  after  January  1st,  1898, 
with  the  exception  of  certain  issues  known  as 
*^Kevenue  Bonds"  and  "Assessment  Bonds,"  are 
known  as  "The  Corporate  Stock  of  the  City  of  New 
York."  It  may  be  in  coupon  form  for  not  less  than 
$500  a  share,  or  in  registered  form  for  not  less  than 
$10  a  share,  or  any  multiple  thereof.  It  must  be 
payable  "in  gold  or  in  legal  currency  of  the  United 
States  at  the  option  of  the  Commissioners  of  the 
Sinking  Fund," — it  is  now  payable  in  gold, — w^ith 
interest  at  not  to  exceed  four  and  one-half  per  cent., 
and  is  free  from  taxation  except  for  State  purposes. 
With  a  few  specific  exceptions,  it  may  only  be  issued 
to  the  extent  and  for  the  purposes  authorized  by 
the  Municipal  Assembly  and  the  Board  of  Estimate 
and  Apportionment. 

The  Board  of  Sinhing  Fund  Commissioners  is 
included  in  the  Finance  Department.  It  is  com- 
posed of  the  Mayor,  Comptroller,  Chamberlain, 
President  of  the  Council  and  Chairman  of  the 
Finance  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen. 
They  have  charge  of  the  sinking  funds.  "The  Sink- 
ing Fund  of  the  City  of  New  York"  is  provided  for 
the  purpose  of  securing  and  paying  the  principal 
of  the  debt  of  the  corporation.  It  is  obtained  by 
including  in  the  amount  raised  by  the  annual  taxes 
for  each  year  successively  until  the  principal  is 
paid  an  amount  which,  with  the  interest  and  ac- 
cumulations thereon,  will  be  sufficient  to  pay  the 
debt  at  maturity.  There  are  also  a  few  other 
sources  of  income  to  this  fund  outside  of  the  taxes. 
The  sinking  funds  of  the  former  corporate  bodies 

11 


now  united  in  the  city,  are  continued  and  the  whole 
city  is  taxed  to  supply  them.  There  are  also  several 
other  sinking  funds  for  special  purposes.  The 
Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund  also  have  au- 
thority to  lease  city  property  (with  the  exception 
of  parks,  docks  and  schools),  subject  to  certain  re- 
strictions and  limitations.  And  all  leases  to  the 
city  must  have  their  approval. 

The  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  is 
also  included  in  the  Department  of  Finance,  and 
is  probably  the  most  important  body  in  the  City 
Government,  for  it  prepares  and,  with  the  concur- 
rence of  the  Municipal  Assembly,  adopts  the  budget, 
which  is  the  general  appropriation  bill  authorizing 
the  payment  of  the  current  expenses  of  the  city. 
It  also  has  an  equal  control  with  the  Assembly 
over  all  bond  issues.  This  Board  is  composed  of 
the  Mayor,  Comptroller,  President  of  the  Council, 
Corporation  Counsel  and  President  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Taxes  and  Assessments.  In  relation  to  the 
budget,  it  is  their  duty  annually  in  the  month  of 
October  by  the  affirmative  votes  of  all  of  them,  to 
prepare  a  budget  setting  forth  the  amounts  esti- 
mated to  be  required  for  conducting  the  city's  busi- 
ness for  the  next  ensuing  year,  specifying  the  items 
for  each  department,  bureau,  etc.,  as  fully  as  possi- 
ble. All  the  amounts  included  in  the  budget  as 
finally  approved,  may  be  spent  by  the  department 
or  bureau  designated  during  the  current  year  to 
which  the  budget  applies  in  the  manner  and  for  the 
purposes  therein  provided,  without  any  further 
authorization.  There  must  be  included  in  the 
budget  sums  sufficient  to  meet  the  city's  accruing 
obligations,  and  to  supply  the  sinking  funds.  This 
Board  is  also  authorized, — formerly  directed — to 

12 


inaike  appropriations  for  certain  charitable  institu- 
tions in  the  city.  When  the  budget  is  prepared, 
and  before  it  is  finally  adopted,  public  hearings 
must  be  had  at  which  the  general  public  may  ap- 
pear and  present  objections  to  the  proposed  budget. 
It  is  then  reduced  to  its  final  form  and  adopted, 
and  submitted  to  the  Municipal  Assembly  for  con- 
sideration in  joint  meeting  of  both  houses.  The 
Assembly  may  reduce  or  strike  out  any  item,  but 
may  not  increase  the  budget,  or  any  item  in  it.  And 
should  it  vote  to  reduce  the  budget  in  any  way,  the 
Mayor  may  veto  its  action,  and  it  can  only  enforce 
it  over  his  veto  by  a  five-sixths  vote.  Inasmuch  as 
the  budget  can  only  be  prepared  with  the  Mayor's 
full  approval,  all  this  circumlocution  means  that 
the  Assembly  may  reduce  the  budget  by  a  five-sixths 
vote,  but  cannot  increase  it.  After  its  adoption, 
the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  may 
transfer  any  appropriation  or  excess  of  appropria- 
tion which  is  found  to  be  unnecessary  for  the  pur- 
pose intended  to  such  other  purpose  or  object  as 
may  require  it ;  and  this  power  is  freely  used.  Any 
balance  unexpended  at  the  end  of  the  year  goes 
into  a  general  fund  for  the  reduction  of  the  taxes  of 
the  next  ensuing  year.  This  Board  also  has  control 
over  the  city's  share  of  the  State  Excise  taxes,  which 
it  may  appropriate  to  such  charitable  institutions 
in  the  city  that  gratuitiously  assist  the  poor  as 
seem  to  it  most  deserving. 

The  Board  of  Public  Improvements  follows  in 
importance  the  Department  of  Finance.  Its  legis- 
lative powers  are  large,  and  in  addition  it  has  the 
exclusive  administrative  control  over  all  public 
improvements,  general  and  local.  And  through 
this  latter  power  it  has  a  strong  coercive  influence 

13 


over  the  Assembly.  This  Board  is  a  novelty, 
created  by  the  Charter. 

The  head  of  this  Board  is  the  "President  of  the 
Board  of  Public  Improvements,"  who  is  appointed 
by  the  Mayor  for  a  term  of  four  years,  and  receives 
a  salary  of  |8,000  a  year ;  and  its  other  members  are 
the  Mayor,  Comptroller,  Corporation  Counsel,  the 
President  of  the  five  Boroughs,  and  the  Commis- 
sioners of  the  following  departments,  which  are 
included  in  this  Board: 

The  Department  of  Streets  and  Highways. 

The  Department  of  Water  Supply. 

The  Department  of  Sewers. 

The  Department  of  Bridges. 

The  Department  of  Street  Cleaning. 

The  Department  of  Public  Buildings,  Lighting 
and  Supplies. 

The  President  presides  at  all  the  meetings,  and 
has  a  vote,  but  no  veto.  In  cases  of  difference  of 
opinion,  he  decides  disputes  and  assigns  work  with- 
in the  general  province  of  the  Board  to  one  or  more 
of  its  departments.  In  his  absence  or  disability, 
the  Mayor  succeeds  to  his  powers.  Each  depart- 
ment has  jurisdiction  over  the  matters  indicated 
by  its  title,  and  the  Commissioner  of  each  has  in- 
dependent charge  of  it.  In  addition  to  the  separate 
departments,  the  President  has  an  office  force  of 
his  own  with  a  salary  list  of  |239,000  a  year,  en- 
gaged in  general  map  making  and  in  centralized 
supervision  over  the  departments  included  in  the 
Board. 

The  Presidents  of  the  Boroughs  before  referred 
to  as  members  of  this  Board,  are  ele4fted  by  the 
Boroughs,  which  are  new  subdivisions  of  the  city 
created  by  the  Charter.    Each  Borough  elects  its 

U 


President  at  the  same  time  and  for  the  same  term 
as  the  Mayor.  The  Presidents  are  ex-officio  mem- 
bers of  the  Board  of  Public  Improvements,  but  they 
have  a  vote  only  in  matters  affecting  solely  their  re- 
spective boroughs.  As  they  have  no  combined  vote 
they  are  practically  without  influence  when  com- 
pared with  the  seven  appointive  members  of  the 
Board.  They  are  also  the  presiding  officers  of  the 
local  boards,  but  their  duties  in  that  capacity  and 
the  functions  of  those  boards  will  be  described 
later. 

There  are  five  Boroughs.  The  Borough  of  Man- 
hattan consists  of  Manhattan  Island  and  the  ad- 
jacent smaller  islands,  that  is,  all  of  the  former 
city  lying  south  of  the  Harlem  River,  and  all  of 
which  is  within  the  County  of  New  York.  It  has 
a  population  of  about  1,850,000,  and  an  area  of 
13,487  acres.  The  Borough  of  the  Bronx  consists 
of  the  remainder  of  the  former  City  and  present 
County  of  New  York,  all  of  which  lies  north  of  the 
Harlem  Hiver.  It  has  a  population  of  about  200,- 
000,  and  an  area  of  25,270  acres.  The  Borough  of 
Brooklyn  consists  of  the  former  City  of  Brooklyn, 
and  is  coterminous  with  Kings  County.  It  has  a 
population  of  about  1,166,000,  and  an  area  of  42,- 
000  acres.  The  Borough  of  Queens  embraces  the 
same  territory  as  the  present  County  of  Queens, 
and  includes  Long  Island  City,  and  the  former 
towns  of  Flushing,  Jamaica  and  Newtown,  and  a 
part  of  Hempstead.  It  has  a  population  of  about 
153,000  and  an  area  of  79,347  acres.  The  Borough 
of  Richmond  consists  of  all  of  Staten  Island  and 
includes  the  same  territory  as  the  County  of  Rich- 
mond. It  has  a  population  of  about  67,000,  and  an 
area  of  36,600  acres.     The  Boroughs  are  not  in 

15 


any  sense  corporate  entities,  but  are  only  sub- 
divisions for  descriptive  and  administrative  pur- 
poses. 

The  Board  of  Public  Improvements  is  authorized 
to  direct  the  acquisition  by  the  city  for  the  public 
use  of  the  ownership  of  land  for  streets,  parks  and 
approaches,  and  of  approaches  to  bridges  and 
tunnels  "whenever  and  as  often  as  it  shall  deem 
it  for  the  public  interests  so  to  do."  And  any 
"public  work,'' — what  constitutes  a  public  work 
is  not  defined, — in  one  or  more  of  these  departments 
must  be  authorized  by  this  Board.  Where  the  cost 
of  the  same  is  payable  out  of  funds  available,  no 
approval  by  the  Municipal  Assembly  may  be  re- 
quired ;  but  otherwise,  as  for  instance  where  a  bond 
issue  is  necessary,  the  consent  of  the  Assembly  is 
required.  All  ordinances  of  the  Municipal  As- 
sembly modifying  any  of  the  existing  rules,  regula- 
tions or  ordinances  affecting  any  of  the  depart- 
ments, and  all  ordinances  to  govern  this  Board  or 
any  of  its  departments  must  originate  with  the 
department  concerned  or  with  this  Board,  and  must 
be  adopted  or  rejected  by  the  Assembly  tcdthout 
amendment.  The  Assembly  may  originate  ordi- 
nances providing  for  a  public  improvement,  but 
only  after  a  report  thereon  is  obtained  from  the 
Board  of  Public  Improvements — no  method  of  com- 
pelling such  a  report  is  provided — and  if  that  be  un- 
favorable it  can  only  pass  such  ordinances 
by  a  five-sixths  vote  of  each  house  and 
with  the  Mayor's  approval.  This  Board  is, 
by  the  Charter,  given  power  "to  prescribe 
rules  for  regulating,  grading,  curbing  and  paving 
streets  and  laying  crosswalks";  and  in  general  is 
given  jurisdiction  over  the  following  subjects:  the 

16 


adoption  of  a  land  map  (which  determines  the 
exact  location  and  boundaries  of  streets,  etc.)?  the 
acquisition  of  land  for  streets,  and  of  rights  in  land 
to  lay  sewers,  etc.,  the  laying  of  sewers,  the  repair- 
ing of  street  pavements  and  the  adjustment  of 
grades,  all  matters  relating  to  the  water  supply, 
and  all  "public  work"  for  which  money  has  been 
provided  either  by  taxes,  bonds  or  otherwise.  It  is 
the  duty  of  this  Board  to  prepare  and  recommend 
to  the  Municipal  Assembly  ordinances  regulating 
the  laying  of  water  pipes  and  all  underground 
pipes,  and  the  construction  of  water  works;  the 
grading,  paving  and  cleaning  of  streets,  and  their 
use  for  signs,  posts,  etc.,  and  temporarily  for  build- 
ing purposes,  and  for  the  exhibition  of  handbills, 
posters,  etc.;  the  construction  of  vaults,  the  rates 
of  railways  on  public  bridges ;  the  construction  and 
repair  of  public  markets  and  of  public  buildings 
(except  schoolhouses,  almshouses,  penitentiaries 
and  police  and  fire  stations) ;  and  the  making  of 
public  contracts  requiring  the  payment  of  money. 
And  all  such  ordinances  when  submitted  to  the  As- 
sembly, must  be  passed  by  it  without  amendment, 
or  be  rejected.  It  is  also  provided  that  all  work 
undertaken  by  this  Board  exceeding  |1,000  in  cost 
must  be  by  contract  by  the  Commissioner  of  the 
contracting  department  with  the  lowest  bidder 
after  public  advertisement  for  bids,  unless  it  is 
otherwise  ordered  by  the  Municipal  Assembly  by 
a  three-quarters  vote  of  all  the  members  elected  to 
each  House,  or  unless  this  Board,  by  a  majority 
vote,  including  the  votes  of  the  Mayor  and  Comp- 
troller, decide  to  pass  the  lowest  and  accept  a 
higher  bid.  And,  practically  the  same  regulations 
apply  to  all  the  departments,  except  the  Dock  De- 

17 


partment.  The  Charter  also  provides  that  the 
Municipal  Assembly  cannot  release  a  contractor 
or  extend  his  time  for  performance  except  upon 
the  unanimous  recommendation  of  the  Board  of 
Public  Improvements. 

The  Mmiicipal  Assembly  is  the  last  and  least 
of  the  repositories  of  legislative  power  under  the 
Charter.  It  is  composed  of  the  Council  and  the 
Board  of  Aldermen.  They  have  co-ordinate  pow- 
ers, except  that  the  Aldermen  alone  appoint  Com- 
missioners of  Deeds.  The  Council  is  the  higher 
body,  and  is  composed  of  the  President  of  the  Coun- 
cil and  twenty-eight  Councilmen.  The  President 
is  an  important  ofdcial,  is  a  member  of  many 
Boards  and  succeeds  to  the  powers  and  duties  of 
the  Mayor  upon  his  absence  or  disability.  He  is 
elected  by  the  City  at  large  for  a  term  of  four  years, 
and  receives  a  salary  of  $7,000  a  year.  The  Coun- 
cilmen are  also  elected  for  terms  of  four  years  and 
they  receive  salaries  of  $1,500  a  year.  They  are 
elected  from  Council  districts,  three  each  from 
eight  of  such  districts  and  two  each  from  two. 
These  districts  are  new  and  unfamiliar,  and  are 
not  apportioned  according  to  population,  one  dis- 
trict with  two  Councilmen  representing  it  having 
a  population  of  only  about  60,000,  while  several 
of  the  districts  with  three  Councilmen  have  a  popu- 
lation of  over  500,000.  The  disproportion  is  in 
favor  of  the  recently  annexed  districts,  and  for 
this  small  mess  of  pottage  they  have  given  up  all 
control  over  their  local  affairs  and  improvements. 
The  present  Council  w^hich  went  into  office  with 
the  new  government  on  January  1st,  1898,  con- 
tains twenty-six  Democrats  and  three  Citizens'- 
Union  Kepublicans. 

-  18 


The  Board  of  Aldermen  is  composed  of  sixty 
members,  elected  for  two  years,  each  from  an 
Aiaermanic  district.  Tliey  receive  salaries  of 
$1,UU0  a  year.  The  districts  are  generally  identi- 
cal with  the  Assembly  districts,  and  are  appor- 
tioned according  to  the  population.  Tnere  are  on 
an  average  about  G,OUO  votes  in  a  district.  This 
Board  elects  its  President  from  among  its  own 
members,  but  its  clerk  is  appointed  by  the  City 
Clerk,  who  is  elected  by  the  Council  and  is  its 
clerk.  The  Chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee 
of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  is  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  {Sinking  Fund  Commissioners,  but  w^ith 
this  exception  none  of  its  members  have  any  con- 
nection or  are  in  any  way  in  touch  with  any  of  the 
great  boards  or  departments  in  which  all  of  the 
administrative  and  much  of  the  legislative  power 
of  the  city  is  vested. 

All  the  city's  legislative  powers,  not  otherwise 
delegated,  are  declared  to  be  vested  in  the  Assem- 
bly. It  is  expressly  given  power  to  establish  ordi- 
nances for  some  31  enumerated  purposes,  such  as 
to  regulate  the  inspection  and  sealing  of  weights 
and  measures,  the  numbering  of  houses,  the  use  of 
the  streets  by  passengers  and  vehicles,  the  deposit- 
ing of  ashes,  garbage,  etc.,  therein,  the  paving  and 
grading  of  streets,  and  their  use  for  signs,  awn- 
ings, horse-troughs,  etc.,  the  control  of  public  cries 
and  noises,  and  the  licensing  of  truckmen,  news- 
stands, etc.  Some  of  its  powders  are  so  similar  to 
those  delegated  to  the  Board  of  Public  Improve- 
ments that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  draw  the  line 
between  them.  The  Assembly  is  also  given  power 
to  adopt  a  code  of  building  laws,  to  fix  the  salaries 
of  officials  not  in  any  department,  unless  their  sal- 

19 


aries  are  fixed  by  the  Charter,  and  to  grant  fran- 
chises upon  terms  to  be  approved  by  the  Board  of 
Estimate  and  Apportionment.  But  no  franchise 
to  use  the  city's  streets  can  be  granted  for  a  period 
to  exceed  twenty-five  years,  except  that  a  right  of 
renewal  for  a  further  term  of  twenty-five  years  on 
a  fair  revaluation  may  be  included  in  the  franchise. 
It  is  also  in  terms  granted  the  power  to  investigate 
all  the  departments  of  the  City  Government,  but 
practically  it  is  impossible  for  it  to  do  so  without 
the  co-operation  of  the  Corporation  Counsel.  It 
has  also  jurisdiction  over  matters  relating  to  public 
improvements  and  finances  in  conjunction  with  the 
Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment,  or  the 
Board  of  Public  Improvements.  The  extent  of  the 
Assembly's  power  in  such  matters  will  hereafter  be 
fully  illustrated,  and  as  will  be  shown,  it  is  really 
more  in  the  nature  of  a  veto  over  the  actions  of 
those  Boards  than  of  an  ordinary  legislative  char- 
acter. It  is  provided  in  the  Charter  that  no  ordi- 
nance granting  a  franchise,  or  alienating  any  city 
property,  or  terminating  a  lease,  or  appropriating 
public  moneys,  or  incurring  any  expense,  or  laying 
any  assessment,  can  be  passed  in  either  branch  of 
the  Assembly  until  five  days  after  the  publication 
of  an  abstract  of  its  provisions;  nor  at  a  meeting 
at  which  it  is  introduced  except  by  unanimous  con- 
sent; nor  unless  it  secures  a  three-quarters  vote 
of  all  the  members  elected  to  each  House.  And  no 
moneys  can  be  expended  for  a  celebration  or  a  sim- 
ilar function  except  by  a  four-fifths  vote;  and  no 
additional  allowance  can  be  granted  to  any  party 
to  a  contract  beyond  his  strict  legal  claims  except 
by  unanimous  consent.  The  rule  requiring  a  three- 
quarters  vote  is  the  cause  of  great  delay  and  conse- 

20 


quent  bad  results.  It  applies  to  all  financial  meas- 
ures however  small,  and  of  whatever  character,  and 
such  measures  are  very  numerous  and  require  con- 
stant action  and  frequently  immediate  action. 
And  yet  for  reasons  hereafter  explained  long  and 
vexatious  delays  in  the  Assembly  necessarily  re- 
sult. And  this  requirement  in  many  such  mat- 
ters is  absolutely  without  reason  or  any  beneficial 
effect.  For  it  has  been  held  by  the  courts  that  in 
all  cases  where  the  ordinances  are  to  authorize 
bond  issues  already  directed  by  the  Legislature  or 
for  the  purpose  of  paying  indebtedness  already 
due,  the  Assembly  can  exercise  no  discretion  but 
must  immediately  authorize  the  bonds.  This  duty 
is  therefore  purely  perfunctory  and  ministerial 
and  should  not  have  been  imposed  upon  a  legisla- 
tive body. 

An  enumeration  of  the  legislative  bodies  of  the 
city  would  be  incomplete  without  some  reference 
to  the  Lmv  Department^  whose  head  is  the  Corpora- 
tion Counsel.  He  is  appointed  by  the  Mayor  for 
a  term  of  four  years  and  receives  a  salary  of  $15,000 
a  year.  He  is  the  legal  adviser,  counsel  and  attor- 
ney of  all  the  departments,  boards,  bureaus  and 
officials  of  the  city,  including  the  Municipal  As- 
sembly; and  they,  and  their  members,  are  all  for- 
bidden to  employ  or  to  appear  by  other  or  special 
attorneys.  This  is  a  change  from  the  former  sys- 
tem, and  as  it  enables  the  Corporation  Counsel  to 
appear  as  attorney  for  and  to  bind  all  the  other 
officials  by  his  acts,  and  yet  to  act  in  entire  disre- 
gard of  their  wishes  and  in  hostility  to  their  rights 
and  interests,  it  enables  him  to  exercise  a  strong 
coercive  power  over  them.  A  striking  instance  pf 
his  use  or  abuse  of  this  power  will  be  related  here- 
after. 

3J 


MEMBERSHIP  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  ALDER- 
MEN. 

The  Board  of  Aldermen,  of  which  I  had  been 
elected  a  member,  met  first  at  noon  on  January 
1st,  1898,  as  prescribed  by  the  Charter.  There  was 
some  delay  in  organizing,  as  we  had  to  wait  until 
the  Council  had  first  organized  and  elected  the 
City  Clerk,  and  he  had  appointed  the  Clerk  of  the 
Board  of  Aldermen,  whose  duty  it  was  to  call  the 
Board  to  order.  Our  first  action  was  to  choose  a 
President,  and  we  elected  Thomas  F.  Woods,  a 
Tammany  Hall  Democrat  of  Manhattan,  to  that 
office  by  a  party  vote,  and  his  election  was  there- 
upon promptly  made  unanimous.  Mr.  Woods  was 
a  horseshoer  by  profession,  and  his  knowledge  of 
parliamentary  law  was  not  large,  but  he  was  ably 
coached  by  the  Clerk,  Mr.  Blake,  who  had  been 
clerk  and  deputy  clerk  of  many  preceding  Boards, 
and  thus  assisted,  he  made  on  the  whole  a  fair  and 
efficient  presiding  officer. 

The  members  of  the  Board  were  a  rather  miscel- 
laneous assortment  of  humanity,  and  represented 
all  shades  of  intelligence,  ability  and  education. 
As  a  whole,  their  ability  was  beyond  their  educa- 
tion ;  but  few  of  them  represented  any  great  experi- 
ence either  in  politics  or  affairs.  Eight  of  them 
had  no  other  business  than  politics,  eight  were  ac- 
knowledged liquor  dealers,  eight  professed  to  be 


real  estate  dealers,  but  some  of  them  did  little  act- 
ive business,  and  devoted  themselves  principally 
to  politics;  four  were  manufacturers,  three  were 
lawyers,  and  one  a  law  student;  three  were  truck- 
men, two  plumbers,  two  machinists,  and  there  was 
a  painter,  horseshoer,  grocer,  undertaker  and  car- 
penter, besides  fourteen  others  of  miscellaneous 
occupations.  Nearly  one-half  were  of  Irish  birth 
or  parentage,  and  the  remainder  were  about  equally 
divided  between  Germans  and  Americans. 

In  politics,  there  were  at  first  forty-seven  Demo- 
crats, two  "straight'^  Republicans,  three  "straight^' 
Citizens'-Union  members,  and  eight  Citizens'- 
Union  Republicans.  In  practice,  however,  the 
thirteen  of  the  minority  always  acted  as  one 
party  and  in  time  came  to  call  themselves  Re- 
publicans. Within  the  first  few  monihs,  one  Dem- 
ocrat was  unseated  by  the  courts  in  favor  of  a  Citi- 
zens'-Union  candidate;  and  during  the  two  years 
of  office  three  Democrats  and  one  Republican  died, 
and  one  Republican  (Citizens'-Union)  resigned. 
In  each  case,  the  Board  elected  a  Democrat  to  fill 
the  vacancy,  so  that  the  final  party  vote  stood  forty- 
eight  to  twelve.  There  were  two  members  each  of 
the  majority  and  minority  who  had  sat  in  the  pre- 
ceding Board  of  the  former  city;  and  four  mem- 
bers of  the  majority  and  one  of  the  minority  who 
had  been  members  of  the  last  Brooklyn  Board. 
These  latter,  I  heard,  had  been  of  the  "cold  thir- 
teen" of  that  Board,  but  as  I  do  not  know  the  exact 
record  of  the  "cold  thirteen,"  or  whether  the  state- 
ment is  true,  anyhow,  any  explanations  on  that 
point  would  be  improper.  The  thirty  (afterward 
thirty-one)  of  the  majority  from  Manhattan  were 
all  members  of  Tammany  Hall,  and  always  voted 

23 


as  a  unit  on  important  measures.  The  one  member 
from  Kichmond,  a  Democrat,  and  the  Democratic 
member  from  Queens,  although  not  themselves 
members  of  Tammany,  always  voted  in  entire  sub- 
servience to  its  dictations.  But  the  fourteen  Dem- 
ocratic Aldermen  from  Brooklyn  belonged  to  a  dif- 
ferent organization,  were  often  rebellious  against 
Tammany,  sometimes  combined  with  the  Republi- 
cans, and  occasionally  acted  by  themselves.  In  the 
end,  however,  Tammany  always  whipped  them  into 
line  by  its  control  over  patronage  and  local  im- 
provements. And  even  the  members  of  the  minor- 
ity were  sometimes  forced  to  buy  local  improve- 
ments for  their  respective  districts  by  abandoning 
their  party  and  their  principles  on  important  meas- 
ures. 

Among  the  members,  in  spite  of  differences  of 
politics,  race,  education  and  environment,  there 
generally  prevailed  the  most  harmonious  personal 
relations.  But  this  only  came  with  time.  At  first 
a  bear  pit  was  harmonious  and  orderly  in  compari- 
son. Ill  feeling  was  started  at  the  first  meeting, 
for  after  its  adjournment  when  the  minority  had 
generally  left  the  chamber,  the  majority  recon- 
vened and  allotted  seats,  thus  securing  the  better 
places  for  themselves.  And  this  ill  feeling  was  in- 
creased shortly  after  by  the  President's  "railroad- 
ing" through,  in  violation  of  the  rules,  an  ordinance 
creating  a  commission  to  revise  the  building  code. 
It  was  in  this  period  of  disorder  that  one  member 
of  the  majority  called  an  opponent  "an  academic 
pintod,''  and  advised  him  "to  sit  on  his  point  of 
order";  and  that  another  alderman  in  opposing  a 
motion  for  a  special  meeting,  declared  that  "the 
less  frequently  this  lawless  body  meets,  the  better 

24 


for  the  City  of  New  York."  However,  in  time 
things  quieted  down  and  no  amount  of  abuse  and  de- 
nunciation served  to  phaze  the  good  temper  of  the 
majority,  or  lead  to  any  personal  ill  feeling.  And 
the  President  avoided  a  repetition  of  his  first  error 
by  thereafter  always  deputing  the  duty  of  presiding 
when  any  matter  was  to  be  "jammed  through"  to  a 
member  whose  unfailing  equanimity  and  good  hu- 
mor under  attack  combined  with  his  absolute  dis- 
regard for  parliamentary  law  and  minority  rights 
rendered  such  action  no  less  effective  while  much 
less  ill-natured.  The  roll  call,  when  ordered,  was 
always  scrupulously  fair  and  the  vote  correctly  re- 
corded. But  in  other  respects,  the  minutes  were 
sometimes  incorrect  and  unfair. 

The  majority  was  ably  led  by  Alderman  John  T. 
McCall,  a  newspaper  man  by  profession,  but  with 
the  exception  of  those  from  Brooklyn,  its  members 
seldom  spoke  or  defended  its  measures  in  any  way. 
The  minoritv  was  led  bv  Alderman  Collin  H.  Wood- 
ward  with  much  parliamentary  skill.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  minority  spoke  frequently,  but  seldom 
at  any  length,  and  never  indulged  in  dilatory  de- 
bate.    The   orator  of  the   Board  was   Alderman 

B ,  of  Brooklyn,  a  Democrat  of  considerable 

common  sense,  but  absolutely  without  education. 
He  had  two  failings,  an  inability  to  stop  when  he 
once  got  started,  and  a  consummate  ability  to  mur- 
der the  Queen's  English.  He  generally  spoke  out 
of  order  and  to  a  previous  question,  that  is,  to  a 
question  that  had  been  disposed  of.  Once,  in  ex- 
plaining a  resolution  to  provide  a  court  room  for 
the  judges  of  a  minor  court  in  Brooklyn,  he  said: 
"The  law  says  that  they  must  set  on  the  15th; 
theyVe  no  place  to  set  now,  and  they've  just  got  to 

25 


set."  In  answer  to  an  inquiry  as  to  whether  or 
not  they  were  then  laying,  he  vouchsafed  no  reply. 
On  another  occasion  he  thus  retorted  to  a  rather 
jeering  interruption: 

"I  don't  want  to  he  stopped  by  no  song-and- 
dance  man.  It  has  been  broadcasted  in  the  papers 
that  this  Board  has  been  holding  up  bond  issues. 
If  that  company  are  getting  water  from  the  city,  it 
is  because  there  are  not  been  no  rains.  There  are 
members  of  this  Board  that  is  a-skeered  of  the 
press.  I  for  one  cares  little  about  what  the  press 
says  about  me.  I  ain't  no  coward.  I  ain't  a- 
skeered  of  the  press.  I'll  vote  according  to  my  con- 
science and  my  dictations." 

And  at  yet  another  time  he  opposed  a  certain 
ordinance  because,  as  he  expressed  it,  "it  would 
destruct  the  property  of  the  people  of  my  district, 
and  I  won't  stand  here  on  my  feet  on  this  floor 
and  see  no  property  of  theirs  destructed,  no  I 
won't!"  And  it  may  be  truthfully  said  of  this 
representative  that,  in  spite  of  his  deficiencies,  he 
did  carefully  guard  the  welfare  of  the  people  of  his 
district. 

But  it  must  not  be  thought  that  all  the  illiteracy 

of  the  Board  was  monopolized  by  Alderman  B , 

although  he  alone  conspicuously  aired  it  in  oratory. 
The  others  ran  more  to  resolutions  expressing  sym- 
pathy, admiration,  congratulations,  etc.,  in  regard 
to  current  matters  and  events  lying  far  beyond  the 
sphere  of  city  government  and  politics.  Many  such 
resolutions  of  great  length  and  abounding  in  ful- 
some rhetoric  were  regularly  introduced  and  care- 
lessly passed.  The  writer  once  brought  down  upon 
his  head  some  little  wrath  by  introducing  a  resolu- 
tion to  amend  the  rules  so  as  to  send  all  such  reso- 

26 


lutions  as  of  course  to  a  special  committee  to  be  re- 
vised as  to  grammar  and  historical  statements.  It 
is  needless  to  state  that  it  was  not  passed. 

Among  the  resolutions  which  came  before  the 
Board  there  were  many  amusing  mistakes.  One 
ordinance,  for  instance,  aimed  at  a  street  railway 
that  did  not  run  its  cars  frequently  enough,  pro- 
vided that  thereafter  the  cars  should  be  run  "not 
less  than  five  minutes  apart."  Another  provided 
that  the  paintings  formerly  hung  in  a  certain  room 
in  the  City  Hall  and  then  temporarily  stored,  "be 
and  they  hereby  are  hung  in  the  Committee  Room." 
Sometimes,  however,  mistakes  were  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  resolutions  were  drawn  by  outsiders  and 
handed  to  members  who  complaisantly  endorsed 
and  introduced  them,  without  reading,  upon  the 
assurance  that  they  were  "all  right."  Thus  one 
Alderman  was  induced  to  nominate  Noah  Webster 
and  Lindley  Murray  for  Commissioners  of  Deeds. 

And  some  reporters  betrayed  Alderman  H ,  an 

aggressive  Irishman,  into  fathering  a  resolution 
which  provided  that  the  City  Hall  and  other  public 
buildings  should  be  decorated  on  the  Queen's  birth- 
day. This  was  a  rather  serious  matter,  for,  although 
the  resolution  was  promptly  laid  on  the  table,  yet 
the  newspaper  men,  in  order  to  carry  out  the  joke, 
reported  it  as  having  passed.  And  as  a  result, 
communications  poured  in  from  all  parts  of  the 

world  denouncing  us,  and  particularly  poor  H . 

And  the  next  meeting  of  the  Board  was  devoted 
entirely  to  his  explanations  and  vindication.  For 
delegations  from  Irish  societies  from  all  over  the 
country  east  of  the  Mississippi  River  filled  the 
chamber  and  the  galleries  to  overflowing  and  de- 
manded satisfaction.    Long  and  elaborate  speeches 

27 


were  made  by  the  majority  leader  and  by  Alder- 
man B ,  above  mentioned,  in  vindication  and 

praise  of  Alderman  H ,  and  the  latter  excused 

himself  at  length.  In  the  course  of  his  remarks  he 
said :  "I  was  only  a  boy  when  I  was  evicted  from 
my  home  in  Ireland.  I  came  at  once  to  this  coun- 
try, and  less  than  ten  days  after  landing  joined 
Tammany  Hall.  Does  any  one  here  think  that  I 
would  introduce  such  a  resolution  if  I  knew  what 
was  in  it?''  And  no  one  there  did.  The  faux  pas 
was,  however,  fatal  to  H ,  who  was  not  renomi- 
nated. 

As  regards  their  personal  honesty,  the  members 
of  this  Board  were  not  open  to  unusual  criticism. 
It  is  true  that  there  were  quite  a  number  of  meas- 
ures that  were  long  ^'hung  up"  in  committees  and 
suddenly  reported  with  unexplained  change  of 
heart.  But  it  is  probable  that  only  a  little  influ- 
ence or  some  small  "tips"  were  all  that  was  neces- 
sary to  make  the  machinery  move.  There  were  also 
ugly  accusations  that  some  of  the  members  required 
gratuities  for  their  approval  of  local  permits;  and 
such  charges  may  have  been  true.  But  in  many 
cases  of  this  kind  the  Aldermen  were  asked  to  do, 
and  did,  a  good  deal  of  very  proper  work  outside 
the  line  of  their  duties  in  aiding  the  prompt  pas- 
sage and  approval  of  such  matters  by  the  Council 
and  the  Mayor,  and  the  acceptance  of  an  honora- 
rium for  such  extra  services  was  no  more  immoral 
than  many  practices  openly  indulged  in  by  other 
officials.  There  were  also  some  rumors  of  combi- 
nations to  "hold  up"  important  ordinances,  but  of 
them  I  never  had  any  personal  knowledge.  But, 
in  my  opinion,  there  was  one  group  of  from  five  to 
seven  members  who  always  acted  the  part  of  "Black 

28 


Horse  Cavalry'' ;  and  the  peculiar  provisions  of  the 
Charter  aided  their  operations  and  gave  them  un- 
usual powers  and  opportunities.  It  would,  how- 
ever, be  unfair  to  ascribe  to  the  generality  or  even 
the  majority  of  the  members  any  responsibility  for 
the  evils  that  they  accomplished.  Passes  on  rail- 
roads and  free  tickets  to  places  of  amusement 
caused  rather  general  demoralization.  In  spite  of 
these  facts,  the  personal  honesty  of  a  large  propor- 
tion of  the  Aldermen  was,  in  my  opinion,  beyond 
question.  This,  however,  does  not  mean  that  the 
Board  w^as  a  fair  and  honest  body.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  was  not ;  for  the  Tammany  members  open- 
ly disclaimed  all  personal  responsibility  for  their 
party  measures,  and  voted  solidly  for  some  of  them 
for  which  even  the  lively  imagination  of  their 
leader  could  not  invent  the  semblance  of  a  reason- 
able apology  or  excuse.  Against  such  an  organiza- 
tion arguments  or  appeals  to  conscience  were  of 
course  vain. 

The  members  of  this  Board  were  not  the  hard- 
drinking,  loud-dressed  men  that  tradition  and 
imagination  cause  the  majority  of  people  to  picture 
the  traditional  Aldermen.  Some  had  their  little 
peculiarities,  but,  as  a  body,  they  resembled  any 
other  aggregation  of  ordinary  New  York  citizens. 

The  excessive  funeral  ceremonies  indulged  in 
upon  the  death  of  a  member  will  perhaps  convey 
the  best  idea  of  their  general  social  standing.  Dur- 
ing our  term  of  office  we  lost  four  members.  On 
each  occasion  the  walls  of  the  whole  chamber,  to- 
gether with  the  President's  and  the  deceased  Alder- 
man's desk,  were  elaborately  draped  in  black,  and 
a  large  majority  of  the  Aldermen  attended  the  fu- 
neral in  "hacks"  dressed  in  their  finest  black  and 

29 


wearing  elaborate  badges  with  some  such  inscrip- 
tion as  "We  Mourn  Our  Loss."  A  showy  emblem, 
such  as  a  floral  chair  or  horseshoe,  was  the  usual 
funereal  tribute  presented  by  the  Board.  All  this 
was,  of  course,  at  the  city's  expense.  In  addition, 
there  were  the  usual  and  appropriate  commenda- 
tory addresses  at  the  next  meeting.  An  attempt 
was  made  at  the  time  of  the  first  funeral  to  add  a 
little  supper  of  the  Aldermen  at  the  city's  expense 
to  these  other  observances.  But  the  newspapers 
raised  such  a  row  over  it  that  we  thought  better  of 
the  matter  and  paid  for  the  banquet  out  of  our  own 
pockets.    And  thereafter  we  omitted  it  altogether. 

Such  were  the  members  of  the  first  Board  of  Al- 
dermen of  the  Greater  City  of  New  York;  and  the 
members  of  the  Council  were  essentially  similar. 
On  the  whole,  they  in  every  w^ay  fairly  represented 
the  people  of  the  city.  It  is  true  that  they  were 
not  what  are  called  "representative  citizens,"  be- 
cause they  were  not  chosen  from  among  the  ablest 
and  most  experienced.  They  were,  how^ever,  aver- 
age citizens — neither  better  nor  worse  than  the 
mass  of  the  people  of  the  districts  they  represented. 
And  though  this  particular  Board  was  roundly 
ridiculed  and  criticised  by  the  press,  yet  I  am  sat- 
isfied that  its  faults  were  due  not  so  much  to  the 
character  of  its  members  as  to  the  evil  influence  of 
the  great  party  organization  that  controls  the  city 
and  to  the  defects  of  the  Charter.  Under  other  cir- 
cumstances, with  better  defined  duties,  responsi- 
bilities and  powers,  and  with  larger  salaries,  that 
same  Board  would  have  made  a  much  more  cred- 
itable record.  And  with  proper  ichanges  in  its  con- 
stitution it  would  be  possible  to  secure  for  the  As- 
sembly a  better  membership. 

30 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  ALDERMEN. 

1898-1899. 

The  Board  of  Aldermen  and  the  Council  met 
separately  every  Tuesday  afternoon,  except  during 
a  month's  vacation  in  summer,  and  held  frequent 
special  meetings.  In  addition,  the  Aldermen  met 
twice  a  week  during  the  first  three  weeks  of  De- 
cember, and  almost  daily  during  the  last  week  of 
that  month  to  dispose  of  the  accumulated  business 
of  the  current  year.  The  meetings  were  largely 
occupied  with  very  petty  matters,  and  but  little 
time  or  attention  was  given  to  the  framing  or  en- 
acting of  general  ordinances  (with  the  exception 
of  the  building  code  ordinance  mentioned  later), 
for  the  reason  that  the  Assembly's  jurisdiction 
over  such  matters  was  so  doubtful  and  ill-defined 
that  all  attempts  to  exercise  it  led  to  conflicts  and 
disputes  with  the  more  powerful  so-called  adminis- 
trative departments. 

The  most  important  duty  of  the  Assembly  was 
the  consideration  of  ordinances  relating  to  bond 
issues,  contracts  and  public  improvements.  These 
ordinances  were  drawn  in  and  transmitted  to  the 
Assembly  from  the  different  boards  and  depart- 
ments having  jurisdiction  over  their  special  subjects 
respectively,  and  the  Assembly's  duty  was  limited  to 
approving  or  disapproving  them.  Contracts  by  de- 
partments to  be  made  after  public  letting  and  pay- 
^  31 


able  out  of  appropriations  already  made  needed  no 
approval  by  the  Assembly.  But  contracts  without 
public  letting,  bond  issues  and  public  improve- 
ments, required  approval  by  an  affirmative  vote  of 
three-quarters  of  all  the  members  elected  to  each 
Board.  The  ordinances  relating  to  these  subjects 
were  divisible  into  three  general  classes.  First, 
ordinances  authorizing  a  public  improvement, 
which  sometimes  also  authorized  the  issue  of  the 
necessary  bonds  to  pay  for  the  improvement,  but 
generally  only  authorized  the  work  and  the  neces- 
sary contract,  leaving  the  bonds  to  be  provided  for 
by  subsequent  action.  Second,  ordinances  author- 
izing the  issue  of  bonds.  Sometimes  they  were  in- 
corporated with  the  ordinance  authorizing  the  im- 
provement or  liability,  and  sometimes  they  were 
to  pay  for  indebtedness  already  authorized  and 
accrued  or  about  to  accrue.  Third,  ordinances  au- 
thorizing contracts  without  public  letting. 

These  classes  of  ordinances  came  to  be  described 
loosely  as  "public  improvement  ordinances,"  "bond 
issues"  and  "contracts  without  public  letting."  A 
very  large  proportion  of  the  ordinances  fell  within 
two  or  more  of  these  classes. 

There  were  also  ordinances  granting  franchises 
and  for  other  purposes  which  required  a  three- 
quarters  vote,  but  they  were  not  numerous  or  fa- 
miliar. 

Requests  by  departments  for  authority  to  make 
contracts  without  public  letting  were  very  numer- 
ous and  aroused  vigorous  opposition.  They  were 
seldom  accompanied  by  any  explanation  of  their 
necessity,  or  by  any  suggestion  or  promise  of  any 
other  proper  method  of  awarding  the  contract  as 
a  substitute  for  the  public  letting.    And  sometimes 

32 


investigation  disclosed  the  fact  that  the  contract 
had  been  already  awarded,  without  public  letting, 
and  that  the  proposed  ordinance  was  desired  in 
order  to  cover  up  and  ratify  the  illegal  act.  While 
some  rather  dubious  measures  of  this  kind  were 
pushed  through,  yet  a  majority,  of  the  Aldermen  at 
least,  showed  a  proper  spirit  in  dealing  with  such 
matters,  and  insisted  that  all  ordinances  of  this 
class  should  be  accompanied  by  written  statements 
from  the  departments  showing  the  reasons  for  re- 
mitting the  strict  rule.  And  many  demanded, 
though  unsuccessfully  that,  where  possible,  some 
other  form  of  letting,  such  as  a  letting  amongst  all 
those  recognized  by  the  department  as  competent 
to  do  the  work,  should  be  substituted. 

Ordinances  providing  for  public  improvements 
originated  in  the  Board  of  Public  Improvements. 
Ordinances  authorizing  bond  issues,  if  for  the  pay- 
ment of  debts  already  accrued  or  accruing  origi- 
nated in  the  Department  of  Finance,  were  first  ap- 
proved by  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportion- 
ment, and  then  came  to  the  Assembly.  Generally 
they  were  transmitted  first  to  the  Council  and  were 
then  forwarded  to  the  Board  of  Aldermen.  There 
was,  however,  no  legal  provision  requiring  this 
course  of  procedure,  and  therefore  they  were  some- 
times transmitted  first  to  the  latter  Board.  When 
they  also  authorized  public  improvements  they 
originated  in  the  Board  of  Public  Improvements 
and  were  then  passed  along  to  the  Board  of  Esti- 
mate and  Apportionment  and  to  tlie  Assembly,  in 
the  order  named.  The  Assembly  had  power  to  orig- 
inate bond  issues,  but  only  to  an  amount  not  to  ex- 
ceed a  total  of  $250,000  in  any  one  year,  by  a  reso- 
lution requiring  a  three-quarters  vote  of  each  Board 

33 


requesting  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportion* 
ment  to  authorize  the  issue  of  a  certain  amount  of 
bonds  for  a  purpose  stated. 

Very  early  in  the  history  of  our  Board  a  large 
number  of  ordinances  authorizing  various  issues  of 
bonds  for  purposes  of  pressing  necessity,  generally 
understood  and  demanded,  were  promptly  and  al- 
most unanimously  passed.  Then  a  sudden  halt  was 
occasioned  by  the  question  of  the  debt  limit  aris- 
ing. 

That  question  may  be  roughly  explained  as  fol- 
lows. It  is  provided  in  the  State  Constitution  that 
no  city  or  county  shall  become  indebted  to  an 
amount  to  exceed  10  per  cent,  of  the  assessed  val- 
uation of  its  real  estate.  The  former  City  and 
County  of  New  York  were  at  the  time  of  consoli- 
dation well  within  that  limit,  having  a  margin  of 
over  $40,000,000  of  further  possible  indebtedness. 
But  Brooklyn  and  Kings  County  had  separate 
debts,  which,  in  the  aggregate,  far  exceeded  10  per 
cent,  of  their  joint  real  estate.  But  they  had  only 
recently  become  coterminous,  and  the  constitution 
then  as  now  provided  that  when  a  city  and  county 
become  coterminous  the  power  of  the  county  to 
borrow  money  shall  cease,  but  its  existing  indebted- 
ness shall  not  be  added  to  the  city's  in  estimating 
the  latter's  debt  limit.  By  virtue  of  this  clause 
Brooklyn  had  not  exceeded  its  debt  limit,  for  the 
old  Kings  County  debt  w^as  not  counted  against  its 
real  estate  in  estimating  it ;  but  when  that  city  and 
Kings  County  were  absorbed  into  the  City  of  New 
York  this  provision  of  the  Constitution  by  its 
terms  ceased  to  apply,  for  the  city's  limits  were  no 
longer  identical  with  those  of  Kings  County.  And 
the  present  city's  debt  was  thereby  increased  by 

34 


the  amount  of  the  combined  debts  of  Brooklyn  and 
Kings  County,  while  its  power  to  borrow  was  only 
increased  by  10  per  cent,  of  their  joint  real  estate. 
And  as  their  combined  indebtedness  exceeded  10 
per  cent,  of  the  value  of  their  real  estate  by  about 
$22,000,000,  the  margin  of  further  possible  indebt- 
edness remaining  over  from  the  former  City  of  New 
York  was  reduced  by  just  so  much.  And  Queens 
and  Richmond  Counties  brought  similar  dowries  of 
indebtedness  into  the  partnership,  which  reduced 
that  margin  by  two  or  three  millions  more.  And 
when  the  bonds  first  authorized  by  the  new  govern- 
ment had  been  issued  the  amount  of  the  city's  in- 
debtedness came  very  close  to  the  limit.  It  was 
then  that  the  Corporation  Counsel  paralyzed  the 
City  Government  by  rendering  an  opinion  in  which 
he  held  that  the  limit  had  already  been  passed. 
This  opinion  was  based  upon  the  contention  that 
certain  unliquidated  and  unaccrued  liabilities  on 
contracts  should  be  included  in  estimating  the  in- 
debtedness. But  after  some  ^^crawfishing"  he  jre- 
ceded  from  this  position,  and  the  contention  was 
abandoned.  In  January,  1899,  the  indebtedness 
of  the  city  was  about  |244,000,000,  and  the  valua- 
tion of  its  real  estate,  as  assessed  in  1898,  was 
12,464,000,000 ;  so  that  there  was  only  a  small  mar- 
gin of  about  $2,000,000  for  further  indebtedness. 
But  the  tax  assessors  in  1899  remedied  this  strin- 
gency by  increasing  the  assessment  of  real  estate 
some  $421,000,000,  of  which  $307,000,000  fell  on 
Manhattan  Borough  alone,  and  $42,000,000  was 
thereby  added  to  the  margin  for  further  indebted- 
ness. 

After  the  bugaboo  of  the  debt  limit  had  been  dis- 
posed of,  bond  issues  again  came  pouring  into  the 

35 


Assembly  steadily  at  the  rate  of  from  ^re  to  ten 
important  measures  a  week.  But  tiiey  did  not  pass 
so  promptly,  and  this  delay  brought  down  upon  it 
the  reproach  of  "holding  up"  bond  issues,  lieally, 
however,  it  was  not  altogether  the  fault  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Assembly.  In  the  first  place,  these  mat- 
ters required  a  three-quarters  vote,  and  it  was  not 
at  all  the  meetings  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  for 
instance,  that  a  vote  of  45  out  of  60  would  be  pres- 
ent. On  stormy  or  foggy  days  the  members  from 
the  Bronx,  about  fifteen  miles  away,  and  those  from 
Flushing,  Canarsie,  South  Brooklyn  and  Staten 
Island,  all  of  whom  had  long  journeys  by  railroads 
and  ferries,  were  apt  not  to  attend.  There  was 
generally  one  vacancy  by  death,  several  would  be 
ill  or  away  from  town,  and  the  sense  of  irresponsi- 
bility and  uselessness  which  the  general  character 
of  the  work  engendered  was  not  calculated  to  make 
the  members  over-scrupulous  or  self-sacrificing  in 
the  matter  of  attendance  when  private  business  or 
pleasure  stood  in  the  way.  And  the  inadequacy  of 
their  salaries  also  tended  to  make  them  regard 
their  public  duties  as  of  secondary  importance,  and 
therefore  to  be  lax  in  attending  meetings. 

A  second  cause  of  delay  in  passing  these  ordi- 
nances was  that  the  Assembly  could  not  amend 
them  or  originate  substitutes,  but  had  to  approve 
them  in  the  exact  form  in  which  they  came  to  it,  or 
reject  them  altogether.  It  frequently  happened 
that  there  were  included  in  ordinances  for  neces- 
sary and  pressing  improvements  provisions  or  rid- 
ers not  understood,  unnecessary,  extravagant  or  in 
our  opinion  wholly  bad.  And  as  we  could  not 
amend  the  ordinances,  the  only  thing  that  we  could 
do  was  to  "hang  them  up"  and  try  to  "starve  out" 

36 


the  department  that  originated  them.  The  burden 
of  such  fights  fell  upon  the  minority,  but  many  of 
the  majority  often  aided.  When  such  games  of 
patience  were  resorted  to  public  opinion  called 
loudly  for  action,  and,  as  we  were  the  immediate 
cause  of  delay,  it  would  generally  be  directed 
against  us,  with  the  result  that  some  of  the  weaker 
members  would  yield,  and  the  ordinances  with  their 
bad  provisions  would  be  passed,  but  only  after 
considerable  opposition  and  delay. 

A  third  cause  of  delay  in  the  Assembly  was  the 
existence  of  two  Boards.  This  caused  delay  both 
by  the  longer  time  necessarily  occupied  in  meas- 
ures passing  two  Boards  instead  of  only  one  and 
also  by  the  double  chance  of  their  being  improperly 
"held  up."  There  is  no  possible  reason  for  the  ex- 
istence of  two  houses  of  the  Assembly  in  the  pres- 
ent system  of  government.  In  legislative  bodies 
where  such  division  rightly  exists  it  is  for  the  pur- 
pose of  having  one  body  act  as  a  check  or  reviser 
upon  the  measures  originating  jn  the  other.  But 
in  this  Assembly  neither  body  has  .the  power  to 
originate,  with  some  few  exceptions  relating  to 
matters  for  which  some  other  form  of  check  or  re- 
striction upon  the  power  of  the  Assembly  has  been 
or  could  have  been  easily  established.  In  financial 
measures,  while  each  Board  has  the  right  of  veto, 
practically  it  has  the  power  only  to  obstruct  and 
delay;  indeed,  it  hardly  has  the  power  to  avoid  de- 
laying and  obstructing.  And  the  net  result  of  hav- 
ing the  two  boards  is  to  double  the  delay,  and  prin- 
cipally in  matters  in  which  delay  is  seriously 
harmful.  To  offset  this  evil  there  have  been  no 
good  results  from  the  division. 

Yet  another  cause  of  delav  was  that  the  members 

37 


of  the  jissembly  could  not  obtain  from  the  depart- 
ments sufficient  information  to  enable  them  to  vote 
intelligently  on  pending  matters  originating  in  the 
departments.     In  some  cases  the  departments  de- 
liberately withheld  information,  and  depended  up- 
on time,  part;^  pressure  and  patronage  and  public 
clamor  to  force  the  members  of  the  Assembly  to 
vote  blindly  in  accordance  with  their  dictations. 
By  the  Charter  it  was  provided  that  the  heads  of 
departments  might  participate  in  the  debates  of 
the  Assembly,  and  it  was  probably  intended  that  in 
this  way  they  should  keep  its  members  informed  of 
departmental  measures.     Of  this  privilege,  how- 
ever, thev  seldom  availed  themselves.    And  it  was 
vain  to  have  expected  them  to  do  so,  for  they  are 
far  too  busy  to  spare  the  time  to  keep  track  of  the 
proceedings  and  attend  the  rather  lengthy  meet- 
ings of  two  legislative  bodies.    The  bond  issue  ordi- 
nances were  frequently  very  important,  sometimes 
involving  the  expenditures  of  millions  of  dollars 
each,  and  many  members  naturally  delayed  voting 
upon  them  until  they  could  get  proper  information 
concerning  them.     And  the  place  to  acquire  that 
information  unfortunately  was  not  at  the  meet- 
ings of  the  Assembly.    The  ordinances  themselves 
seldom  disclosed  their  full  purposes,  and  there 
were  no  explanatory  communications  transmitted 
with  them  from  the  departments  to  inform  the 
members  why  and  w^herefore  the  particular  ordi- 
nances were  reasonable  and  necessary.    Thus,  for 
instance,  a  certain  ordinance  for  the  issue  of  bonds 
for  1250,000,  to  pay  for  work  on  the  Croton  Aque- 
duct.   It  required  about  six  months'  delay  before 
the  Aldermen  could  learn  specifically  what  it  was 
for,  how  much  the  contract  for  the  whole  work 

38 


called  for,  how  much  of  the  proposed  issue  was  to 
pay  for  indebtedness  already  accrued,  how  much 
for  future  work,  and  why  this  particular  sum  was 
reasonable  and  necessary.  The  departments  and 
boards  practically  took  the  position  that  this  was 
not  the  Assembly's  business,  and  that  the  members 
of  the  Assembly  should  rely  upon  the  determination 
of  the  departments  as  to  amounts,  etc.  And  the 
members  of  the  Assembly  were  severely  blamed 
for  the  delay  that  resulted  because  they  refused  to 
do  so.  The  Council  was  particularly  censured  be- 
cause some  of  its  members  declined  to  vote  for  an 
ordinance  authorizing  the  issue  of  $2,000,000  of 
bonds  to  repave  streets  until  the  Commissioner 
of  Highways  should  furnish  some  estimate  of 
the  paving  necessary  and  a  statement  of  the 
streets  to  be  repaired.  The  Comptroller,  the  one 
official  of  the  city  in  whom  the  independent  mem- 
bers had  confidence,  was  frequently  at  fault  in  this 
respect.  It  was  held  by  the  courts  that  where  bond 
issues  were  to  pay  for  debts  already  accrued,  the 
Assembly  had  no  discretion  as  to  their  approval, 
but  was  bound  to  pass  them  promptly.  It  was  also 
perfectly  obvious  that  it  was  economical  to  do  so 
where  the  issue  of  bonds  was  necessary  to  pay  the 
debt.  For  the  debt  bore  interest  against  the  city 
at  the  rate  of  6  per  cent.,  while  the  city's  bonds 
bore  only  about  3  per  cent.  There  was  no  dispo- 
sition on  the  part  of  the  Assembly  to  delay  such 
measures,  but  the  difficulty  lay  in  distinguishing 
them  from  ordinances  to  issue  bonds  for  ordinary 
purposes,  such  as  for  works  not  yet  under  way  or 
even  authorized.  It  always  seemed  to  me  that  had 
the  Comptroller  taken  the  trouble  to  point  out  and 
identify  such  ordinances  they  would  have  been 

39 


passed  promptly.  But  he  seldom,  if  ever,  did  so. 
It  therefore  generally  happened  that  only  after 
long  personal  investigations,  which  necessarily 
caused  delay,  could  the  members  of  the  Assembly 
ascertain  that  the  ordinances  to  issue  bonds  to  pay 
debts  were  actually  for  that  purpose.  And  in  sev- 
eral cases  definite  information  could  not  be  ob- 
tained for  many  months.  Thus  in  the  case  of  a 
"bond  issue"  of  $1,500,000,  to  pay  for  certain 
Brooklyn  water  works  that  had  been  condemned, 
over  a  year's  debate  and  personal  investigations 
failed  to  reveal  that  fact  conclusivelv ;  for  a  certain 
minority  in  opposition  declared  that  the  condem- 
nation  proceedings  by  which  the  works  were  ac- 
quired were  not  yet  terminated  and  that  the  pro- 
posed bond  issue  was  therefore  improper.  While 
this  minority  may  have  been  actuated  by  improper 
motives,  yet  there  were  quite  a  number  of  disin- 
terested members  who  could  not  ascertain  the  true 
state  of  the  facts  for  over  a  year.  The  trouble  not 
only  in  this  case,  but  in  general,  was  that  the  As- 
sembly was  acting  apart  from  the  departments  and 
out  of  communication  with  them,  and  totally  in  the 
dark  as  to  the  matters  before  it.  This  state  of  af- 
fairs the  Assembly  was  unable  to  cure;  but  the  de- 
partments could  have  done  so.  And  if  we  seek  for 
the  reason  why  they  deliberately  placed  the  As- 
sembly in  this  predicament  we  have  not  far  to 
look.  For  in  the  Assembly  alone  of  all  the  effective 
forces  of  the  city's  government  was  the  minority 
party  at  all  represented.  All  the  others  were  in 
the  exclusive  possession  of  Tammany  or  its  kindred 
Brooklyn  organization;  (and  this  same  condition 
of  monopoly  would  be  true  in  any  case  under  the 
Charter,  where  one  party  had  succeeded  in  elect- 
ro 


ing  its  candidates  for  Mayor,  Comptroller  and 
President  of  the  Council ) .  It  was,  therefore  "good 
politics"  for  all  the  other  departments  to  do  every- 
thing possible  to  keep  the  Assembly  in  the  dark, 
to  break  its  power  and  to  reduce  it  to  public  odium 
and  contempt,  and  thereby  perhaps  to  lead  to  its 
abolition.  And  to  that  end  every  force  and  power 
of  the  City  Government  was  directed,  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  such  efforts  incidentally  hurt  the  ma- 
jority members  of  the  Assembly.  But  it  was  upon 
the  minority  that  the  real  hardship  fell. 

This  complicated  and  impractical  condition  of 
affairs  in  the  Assembly  naturally  led  to  many 
severe  struggles  and  long  deadlocks,  from  which 
the  people  suffered.  And  one  of  these  deadlocks 
brought  upon  the  Assembly  a  certain  mandamus 
proceeding  which  crushed  its  spirit,  shattered  the 
last  remnant  of  its  power  in  financial  matters,  and 
left  it  but  the  cash  register  of  the  Comptroller  and 
the  ballot  machine  of  the  Corporation  Counsel.  It 
came  about  in  this  way:  There  were  "held  up"  in 
the  Council  three  important  bond  issues.  One  pro- 
vided for  $1,500,000  to  v^J  for  the  Brooklyn  Water 
Works,  before  mentioned,  which  had  finally  passed 
the  Aldermen.  The  second  was  for  $2,000,000  to 
provide  a  fund  for  renaving  streets.  And  the 
third  was  for  $450,000  for  work  on  a  new 
Hall  of  T?ecords,  then  beinsr  built.  The  first  had 
back  of  it  the  earnest  and  finally  the  thoroughly 
aroused  surn>ort  of  the  people  of  the  locality  inter- 
ested, but  the  Brooklyn  Democratic  organization 
was,  for  some  reason,  probably  sinister,  opposed  to 
it.  Tammanv  had  lonjr  simply  acquiesced  in  this 
opposition,  but  at  lensrth,  aroused  by  popular 
clamor,  and  having  no  direct  interest,  had  come  to 

41 


the  support  of  the  measure.    The  Hall  of  Records 
matter  was  but  little  understood  among  the  mem- 
bers, but  there  were  ugly  rumors  current  as  to  ir- 
regularities in  the  contract  for  the  work,  and  the 
feeling  was  that  the  contractor  should  be  forced  to 
sue,  and  that  the  Corporation  Counsel  should  de- 
fend the  action  in  the  courts,  and  thus  test  its  mer- 
its.    But  there  were  really  no  suflBicient  grounds 
specified  by  the  opposing  members  upon  which  any 
valid  defense  in  such  an  action  could  have  been 
predicated.      The  paving  bond  matter  had  back 
of  it  an   intense  popular  demand  for   improved 
streets.     But  some  of  the  Brooklyn  Councilmen 
claimed  the  right  to  know  what  streets  it  was  pro- 
posed to  repave,  and  demanded  the  estimates  and 
particulars  on  which  the  request  for  $2,000,000  was 
based.     The  Commissioner  of  Streets  and  High- 
ways declined  to  furnish   this  information,  and 
these  Councilmen  therefore  opposed  the  ordinance. 
For  these  separate  reasons  there  were  enough  mem- 
bers opposed  to  each  ordinance  to  prevent  the  nec- 
essary three-quarters  vote  for  it  in  the  Council, 
and  a  long  deadlock  ensued.    Throughout  the  de- 
lay public  clamor  was  directed  against  the  Assem- 
bly, because  it  was  the  apparent  and  proximate 
cause  of  the  delay  in  needed  improvements.    And 
when  finally  the  contractor  engaged  in  building  the 
Hall  of  Records  commenced  proceedings  for  a  man- 
damus against  the  Assembly  to  compel  it  to  author- 
ize the  issue  of  the  bonds  to  pay  him,  that  body  was 
in  the  depths  of  unpopularity.    A  mandamus  is  a 
writ  or  order  of  the  Court,  which,  when  directed  to 
a  public  body,  commands  it  to  perform  a  minis- 
terial or  administrative  act.    It  does  not  lie  to  com- 
pel a  legislative  act.     In  these  proceedings  it  was 

42 


therefore  contended  that  the  approval  by  the  Assem- 
bly of  the  issue  of  these  bonds  was  a  purely  ministe- 
rial act  involving  no  discretion,  for  the  reason  that 
the  Legislature  had  long  before  authorized  the  con- 
tract for  the  work  and  directed  the  city  to  issue 
bonds  to  pay  for  it.  And  this  contention  was 
doubtless  correct ;  but  the  members  of  the  Assembly 
did  not  know  it,  or  even  know  that  the  issue  of  the 
bonds  had  been  .directed  by  the  Legislature;  and 
when  they  did  learn  the  latter  fact  they  still  thought 
that  as  they  were  a  legislative  body  the  courts  had 
authority  to  compel  them  to  vote  on  the  ordinance 
but  not  to  vote  affirmatively  for  it.  Some,  too,  felt 
that,  as  the  Assembly  is  nominally  given  power  to 
investigate,  they  had  the  right  to  demand  that  this 
contract  be  fully  investigated,  and  that  until  this 
was  done  they  had  the  right  to  withhold  payment. 
The  Court  proceedings  were  begun  by  a  notice,  or 
"order  to  show  cause,"  as  it  is  called,  which  was 
served  upon  the  Presidents  of  the  Council  and  of 
the  Board  of  Aldermen.  This  order  required  them 
to  show  cause — that  is,  to  give  reasons,  if  there 
were  any — to  the  court  on  a  day  named,  why  a  man- 
damus should  not  be  granted  against  the  two 
Boards  and  their  members.  These  officials  turned 
the  notices  over  to  the  Corporation  Counsel,  pre- 
suming, we  may  suppose,  that  he  would  do  every- 
thing necessary  to  protect  the  rights  and  interests 
of  his  official  clients.  Instead,  he  appeared  in  court 
through  his  deputy,  consented  to  the  issue  of  the 
mandamus  in  the  form  and  terms  proposed  by  the 
attorney  for  the  contractor,  and  thereupon  the 
Court,  as  is  usual  and  proper  when  the  attorneys 
for  all  the  parties  interested  consent,  without  look- 
ing into  the  merits  of  the  case  or  the  propriety  of 

43 


the  terms  of  the  proposed  mandamus,  granted  the 
order  and  issued  the  mandamus.  And  thereupon 
the  Corporation  Counsel  took  no  steps  to  notify 
the  members  of  the  Assembly,  whose  counsel  he  was 
and  in  whose  behalf  he  pretended  to  be  acting,  of 
the  existence  of  the  writ,  or  to  instruct  them  as  to 
their  duties  under  the  circumstances,  but  left  them 
to  their  own  unaided  judgment.  The  circumstances 
attending  the  receipt  of  the  writ  by  the  Board  of 
Aldermen  were  rather  dramatic.  About  ten  min- 
utes before  it  convened  in  its  regular  meeting  the 
writ  was  handed  to  the  President,  and  immediately 
upon  the  opening  of  the  meeting  it  was  read.  This 
was  the  first  notice  many  of  us  had  received  of  the 
matter,  and  it  was  the  first  intimation  we  had  that 
the  mandamus  was  directed  to  us  personally,  for 
the  ordinance  in  question  was  not  before  our  Board 
and  many  of  us  had  never  heard  of  it.  And  yet, 
here,  without  a  word  of  warning,  was  an  order  from 
the  Court,  granted  upon  the  apparent  consent  of 
our  attorney  and  upon  affidavits  stating  that  we 
had  refused  and  neglected  and  still  refused  to  vote 
for  this  strange  ordinance — all  untrue — and  com- 
manding us  and  each  of  us  immediately  to  vote  for 
it  and  pass  it.  To  say  that  we  were  surprised  and 
angry  does  not  describe  the  situation,  and  in  the 
pandemonium  that  followed  many  harsh  things 
were  said  of  the  Corporation  Counsel.  But  we 
soon  realized  the  ridiculous  feature  of  the  situa- 
tion, that  the  mandamus  directed  us  to  perform  an 
impossibility.  For  we  were  ordered  by  it  to  pass 
immediately  a  specific  ordinance  which  was  not 
before  us  and  which  we  could  not  originate.  We 
therefore  referred  the  papers  to  the  Department  of 
Finance,  with  the  ren^ost  that  it  transmit  to  us 

44 


the  required  ordinance;  and  upon  the  receipt  of  it 
at  our  next  meeting  we  promptly  and  unanimously 
passed  it,  in  obedience  to  the  order  of  the  Court. 
And  yet,  during  that  necessary  interval,  our  Coun- 
sel and  the  press  took  the  opportunity  of  accusing 
us  of  being  guilty  of  contempt  of  court!  In  the 
Council,  however,  the  matter  was  more  serious. 
They  had  the  ordinance  before  them,  and  yet  upon 
the  receipt  of  the  Court's  order  many  of  the  mem- 
bers refused  to  vote  for  it,  contending  that  the 
Court  could  not  order  or  compel  such  action  by  a 
legislative  body,  and  that  the  Court  would  not  have 
granted  the  order  had  the  Corporation  Counsel 
properly  presented  their  case.  The  latter  conten- 
tion was  probably  correct.  Later  some  of  those 
who  had  voted  against  the  ordinance  changed  their 
votes,  and  it  was  passed;  but  a  few  still  voted 
against  it.  A  motion  was  then  made  to  punish 
these  recalcitrant  members  for  contempt  of  court, 
and  the  Corporation  Counsel,  through  his  depu- 
ties, appeared  as  their  attorney,  and  consented  that 
they  be  punished.  Other  attorneys  employed  by 
them  personally  appeared  in  Court  and  demanded 
the  right  to  represent  them  and  present  their  side 
of  the  case,  but  the  Corporation  Counsel  objected, 
and  his  contention  was  sustained;  for,  under  the 
Charter,  he  is  the  sole  attorney  for  all  city  officers. 
The  curious  anomaly  was  thus  presented  of  an  at- 
torney acting  throughout  a  proceeding  in  entire 
hostility  to  his  clients,  using  all  his  efforts  to  lead 
them  into  difficulties  and  contempt,  urging  their 
punishment,  and  refusing  to  present  their  argu- 
ments and  extenuating  circumstances  to  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Court.  This  proceeding  disclosed  the 
hazardous  and  dependent  position  of  the  members 

45 


of  the  Assembly  and  all  elective  officers  of  the  city 
government.  For  they  alone,  of  all  citizens,  are 
exposed  to  the  danger  of  having  an  attorney,  in 
whose  selection  they  have  had  no  voice,  in  whose 
judgment  and  integrity  they  have  no  confidence, 
and  over  whose  actions  they  have  no  control,  vested 
with  full  and  exclusive  powers  to  represent  them  in 
court  and  to  bind  them  in  every  way,  while  they  are 
shut  off  from  all  other  means  of  presenting  to  the 
Court  the  facts  and  arguments  upon  which  they 
base  their  rights  and  pustify  their  actions.  With 
such  power  vested  in  him,  the  Corporation  Coun- 
sel can  compel  the  Assembly  to  do  anything. 

During  the  years  1898-1899  there  were  but  two 
franchises  granted.  The  Charter  provides  very 
fully  for  the  procedure  in  such  grants  requiring 
long  advertisement  and  public  hearings  before 
committees  of  the  Assembly,  and  the  compensation 
to  be  paid  to  the  city  for  a  franchise  must  be  fixed 
or  approved  by  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Appor- 
tionment. The  franchises  referred  to  were  for 
street  railways;  they  had  the  general  public  ap- 
proval and  were  unanimously  passed  by  the  As- 
sembly. 

There  were  only  two  important  measures  that 
required  a  four-fifths  vote  that  came  up  in  the 
Board  of  Aldermen  during  that  time.  They  were 
appropriations  for  celebrations.  The  first  was  a 
proposed  appropriation  of  $50,000  to  celebrate  the 
anniversary  of  consolidation,  under  the  name  of 
Charter  Day.  It  passed  the  Board  of  Aldermen 
after  some  opposition,  but,  it  subsequently  ap- 
pearing that  the  subject  was  not  considered  a  cause 
for  celebration,  it  got  no  further,  and  the  matter 
was  allowed  to  drop.  The  other  was  the  appropria- 
te 


tion  of  $175,000  for  the  celebration  in  honor  of  the 
return  of  Admiral  Dewey  from  Manila.  The  com- 
mittee having  charge  of  this  celebration  insisted 
that  the  appropriations  for  it  should  be  free  from 
all  provisions  as  to  public  letting  and  other  safe- 
guards against  misappropriation.  I  voted  for  both 
of  these  measures,  but  the  way  in  which  the  money 
was  expended  for  the  Dewey  celebration,  in  spite 
of  its  great  success,  makes  me  sincerely  regret  that 
I  did  so. 

The  first  serious  struggle  in  the  Board  of  Alder- 
men arose  early  over  an  ordinance  to  appoint  a 
commission  to  revise  the  Building  Law,  and  it  con- 
tinued with  ever  increasing  bitterness  almost 
throughout  the  life  of  the  Board.  The  power  to 
enact  a  code  of  building  ordinances  is  the  greatest 
legislative  power  that  was  granted  to  the  Assem- 
bly, and  the  majority  lost  no  time  in  making  use 
of  it.  The  building  laws  of  the  city  consisted  of 
the  Tenement  House  Law,  which  provides  for  fire- 
proofing  and  ventilation  in  tenements,  and  which 
was  re-enacted  in  the  Charter  and  cannot  be  modi- 
fied by  the  Assembly,  and  the  Building  Law,  which 
could  be  amended  or  replaced  by  any  ordinances 
the  Assembly  might  enact.  The  latter  law  was  ad- 
mittedly old  and  out  of  date,  but  there  were  two 
diametrically  opposite  interests  demanding  differ- 
ent tendencies  in  its  amendment.  On  the  one  side 
were  the  speculative  builders,  who  objected  to  all 
material  restrictions  upon  the  character  of  build- 
ings, and  who  demanded  a  "practical'^  law.  On 
the  other  side  were  the  architects  and  reformers 
and  generally  all  classes  w^ho  are  opposed  to  flim- 
sy, ill-ventilated  and  easily  inflammable  buildings. 
Early  in  the  session  an  ordinance  came  to  the 

47 


Board  of  Aldermen  after  passing  the  Council  which 
provided  for  the  appointment  of  a  paid  commission 
to  revise  the  building  laws,  to  consist  of  the  Com- 
missioners of  the  Department  of  Buildings  and 
seven  representatives  of  building  trade  interests 
therein  enumerated,  to  be  appointed  by  the  Presi- 
dents of  the  two  Boards  of  the  Assembly.  From  the 
very  first  it  was  evident  that  it  had  the  strongest  po- 
litical influence  behind  it,  and  that  nothing  would 
be  spared  to  secure  its  passage.  A  combination 
between  the  Brooklyn  Democrats  and  the  minority, 
however,  succeeded  in  "hanging  it  up"  in  commit- 
tee. And  the  minority  fought  hard  to  amend  it  by 
adding  to  the  number  of  the  proposed  commission- 
ers three  architects  to  be  nominated  by  certain  ar- 
chitectural societies,  a  civil  engineer,  a  sanitary  en- 
gineer, two  lawyers  and  the  Fire  Chief,  and  further 
providing  that  the  commissioners  should  serve 
without  compensation.  All  these  efforts  were, 
however,  in  vain,  for  Tammany  succeeded  in  forc- 
ing through  a  substitute  ordinance  almost  iden- 
tical with  the  original,  except  that  a  representative 
of  the  Corporation  Counsel's  ofifice  was  added  and 
the  provision  relating  to  the  payment  of  the  com- 
missioners was  omitted.  But  later  this  last  pro- 
vision was  separately  enacted.  When  in  the  course 
of  time  the  proposed  code  was  reported  it  justified 
the  worst  fears  of  the  opponents  of  the  commis- 
sion. The  principal  changes  it  effected  were  to  de- 
fine apartment  houses  in  such  a  way  as  to  distin- 
guish them  from  tenements  and  thereby  to  attempt 
to  take  them  out  of  the  stricter  rules  of  the  tene- 
ment laws ;  to  allow  greater  height  in  non-fireproof 
buildings  and  greater  laxity  in  regard  to  fireproof- 
ing  and  ventilation  in  many  classes  of  buildings 

48 


where  strict  provisions  are  necessary  for  the  pres- 
ervation of  life  and  health.     And  some  nine  very 
reasonable  suggestions  made  to   the  Commission 
by  the  Tenement  House  Committee  of  the  Charity 
Organization  Society  were  ignored.     In  some  re- 
spects the  building  laws  were  made  more  strict, 
but  greater  power  to  vary  them  was  given  to  the 
Commissioners  and  to  the  Board  of  Examiners. 
Under  the  Charter  there  are  three  Commissioners 
of  the  Department  of  Buildings,  one  having  juris- 
diction over  Manhattan  and  the  Bronx,  another 
over  Brooklyn,  and  a  third  over  Queens  and  Rich- 
mond.   In  general,  each  must  enforce  the  strict  let- 
ter of  the  law,  but  an  appeal  lies  from  their  deci- 
sions, in  Brooklyn,  Queens  and  Richmond  to  the 
Board  of  Commissioners,  and  in  Manhattan  and 
the  Bronx  to  the  Board  of  Examiners,  and  these 
Boards,   respectively,   have   the  power  to   permit 
variations  from  the  strict  terms  of  the  law  wher- 
ever in  their  opinion  some  other  method  of  con- 
struction is  equally  good  or  more  desirable.     The 
Board  of  Examiners  is  an  old  Board  which  existed 
in  the  former  government,  and  has  been  continued 
by  the  Charter.    It  consists  of  the  Commissioners 
and  the  Fire  Chief  ex-ofi&cio  and  seven  representa- 
tives elected  from  six  enumerated  trade  societies. 
It  has  always  been  of  doubtful  repute,  and  has  been 
charged  with   laxity  and  favoritism.     It  is  not 
fairly  representative,   and   some  of  the  societies 
represented  are  probably  nothing  more  than  "rot- 
ten boroughs"  maintained  solely  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  representation  in  this  Board.     The  pro- 
posed code  manifoldly  increased  the  discretionary 
powers  of  this  Board  and  of  the  Commissioners, 
and  multiplied  their  opportunities  for  favoritism 

49 


and  oppressive  discrimination.  Severe  arraign- 
ments of  it  were  made  at  the  public  hearings  that 
were  held  by  a  Committee  of  the  Council,  but  it 
was  promptly  passed  and  signed  by  the  Mayor.  As 
a  result  of  the  changes  effected  by  it,  an  architect  or 
builder  whose  relations  with  Tammany  Hall  are 
"satisfactory"  is  now  subject  to  few  practical  re- 
strictions as  to  the  character  and  quality  of  his 
building  operations. 

The  next  contest  in  the  Board  of  Aldermen  arose 
over  a  series  of  "strike"  ordinances  aimed  at  the 
elevated  railroads.  The  Manhattan  Railroad  Com- 
pany, which  controls  and  operates  these  structures, 
is  probably  the  most  unpopular  corporation  in  the 
city,  and  any  measure  directed  against  it  is  apt  to 
be  popular.  But  these  proposed  ordinances  were 
too  palpably  blackmail.  Public  report  stated  at 
the  time  that  certain  personages  high  up  in  Tam- 
many Hall  had  tried  to  secure  from  the  company 
certain  valuable  concessions  in  the  use  of  its  struc- 
tures and  had  been  unsuccessful,  and  consequently 
that  they  were  seeking  an  opportunity  to  "get 
even."  And,  as  if  to  bear  out  this  rumor,  there 
were  introduced  in  the  Board  of  Aldermen  four 
ordinances  compelling  the  elevated  railroad  to 
place  iron  drip  pans  under  all  their  tracks,  to  en- 
close the  platforms  of  their  stations,  to  run  trains 
on  all  the  lines  at  all  hours  less  than  five  minutes 
apart,  and  to  remove  the  cars  stored  on  certain 
third  or  central  tracks,  all  within  sixty  days,  under 
very  severe  penalties.  Some  parts  of  these  ordi- 
nances were  proper  enough,  but  the  time  limit  was 
so  short  as  to  render  performance  practically  im- 
possible ;  and  several  of  them  had  no  other  possible 
purpose  than  to  mulct  the  railroad.    The  public 

50 


and  the  press  quickly  divined  the  true  purposes  of 
these  ordinances  and  supported  the  minority  in  its 
opposition,  with  the  result  that  they  were  buried 
in  committees  and  never  resurrected. 

The  final  struggle  in  the  Board  was  between  the 
ruling  powers  favoring  the  Mayor's  policy  of  build- 
ing bridges  between  Manhattan  and  Long  Island 
and  the  opposition,  led  by  the  Comptroller,  in  favor 
of  tunnels.  At  the  time  this  question  came  up  for 
consideration  there  was  only  one  bridge — the  pres- 
ent Brooklyn  Bridge — much  overcrowded,  with  its 
foot  passages,  driveways,  trolley  lines,  and  cable 
and  elevated  railways,  supplemented  by  some  sev- 
enteen ferries.  There  was  also  building  the  new 
East  River  Bridge,  between  northern  Brooklyn 
(Greenpoint)  and  Broome  street,  in  Manhattan. 
The  Mayor  advocated  two  more  bridges  at  a  cost  of 
about  $13,000,000  to  $15,000,000  each,  one  from 
upper  Manhattan  over  Blackwell's  Island  to 
Queens,  and  the  other  from  lower  Manhattan  to 
Brooklyn,  just  north  of  the  present  bridge.  The 
sums  above  mentioned,  however,  do  not  include  the 
price  of  the  land  that  will  be  necessary  for  piers 
and  approaches,  which  will  have  to  be  acquired  by 
condemnation  proceedings,  and  will  cost  many  mil- 
lion dollars  more  for  each  bridge.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Comptroller  argued  that  two  tunnels 
permitting  two  lines  of  rapid  transit  trains  in  each 
could  be  built  for  a  total  cost  of  about  $5,000,000. 
The  principal  objection  urged  to  the  bridges  was 
their  great  expense.  The  taxes  in  Manhattan  had 
been  increased  nearly  40  per  cent,  by  consolidation, 
and  yet  here  was  a  proposition  to  build  a  bridge  into 
Queens  Borough  that  would  almost  exclusively 
benefit  that  Borough,  and  yet  would  have  to  be  paid 

51 


for  by  Manhattan  in  the  proportion  of  almost 
for  every  dollar  paid  by  Queens;  and  it  was  urged 
that  a  $3,000,000  tunnel  would  accomplish  about 
the  same  beneficial  results.  And  the  same  objec- 
tion applied,  though  in  a  lesser  degree,  to  Brook- 
lyn; and  in  addition  it  was  urged  that  there  was 
already  being  built  a  new  bridge  to  Brooklyn  that 
would  answer  for  awhile,  and,  besides  that,  a  bridge 
could  not  reach  south  Brooklyn,  which  was  the  part 
of  that  Borough  which  most  seriously  needed  rapid 
transit,  while  a  tunnel  could.  It  was  also  objected 
to  bridges  in  general  that  they  would  take  a  long 
time  to  build;  that  they  could  not  go  to  the  places 
that  most  required  them,  but  would  be  governed 
as  to  location  by  topographical  requirements;  that 
their  grades  were  unsuitable  for  trains;  that  they 
lead  to  serious  congestion  around  their  termini, 
and  that  the  necessary  condemnation  of  property 
would  give  opportunities  for  favoritism  and  land 
speculation.  Tunnels,  it  was  claimed,  would  avoid 
all  these  objections;  they  could  be  quickly  built, 
they  were  so  cheap  comparatively  that  they  could 
be  multiplied  and  so  distributed  as  to  avoid  conges- 
tion, they  could  lead  to  any  place  desired,  and  could 
penetrate  to  the  center  of  the  Boroughs,  their 
grades  would  be  more  suitable  for  trains,  and  they 
would  require  no  laud,  thereby  avoiding  condem- 
nation proceedings.  The  objections  to  tunnels 
were  that  they  are  underground,  ill-ventilated 
and  purely  experimental,  if  not  impossible  of  con- 
struction; that  their  cost  is  really  an  unknown 
quantity,  and  that  they  would  not  provide  road- 
ways for  teams  and  foot  passengers.  The  matter 
came  up  in  the  form  of  separate  ordinances  author- 
izing contracts  for  the  two  bridges  and  of  other 

52 


ordinances  authorizing  the  issne  of  bonds  to  raise 
the  funds  for  preliminary  expenditures.  At  first 
the  ordinance  for  the  Queens  bridge  was  defeated 
by  the  minority  with  the  aid  of  the  Brooklyn  Dem- 
ocrats. But  the  latter,  together  with  the  Brooklyn 
Republicans,  could  not  muster  up  the  courage  to 
vote  against  the  Brooklyn  bridge,  the  ordinances 
for  which  were  consequently  passed.  And,  in  re- 
turn for  the  Queens  Borough  votes  for  that  bridge, 
some  of  the  Brooklyn  members  swung  over  and 
voted  for  the  Queen's  bridge.  Thus,  by  a  little 
finessing  and  trading,  the  ordinances  authorizing 
both  bridges  were  passed,  but  only  in  the  last  hours 
of  the  last  dav's  session  of  the  Board. 

There  was  a  good  deal  of  trading  of  votes  in  this 
Board.  It  was  larsrelv  due  to  the  wav  in  which  the 
Charter  had  massed  the  control  over  local  improve- 
ments in  the  hands  of  several  central  bodies.  Thus 
it  was  often  necessary  to  vote  for  an  unnecessary 
office  or  improvement  in  one  or  more,  or  perhaps 
all  the  other  Boroughs  in  order  to  secure  a  similar 
improvement  or  office  for  one  Borough  where  it  was 
absolutely  necessary.  And  an  Alderman  who  was 
inclined  to  be  independent  but  whose  district  need- 
ed local  imDrovements,  was  constantly  obliged  to 
surrender  his  independence  and  buy  the  passage  of 
the  measures  providing  for  such  improvements 
through  the  Board  of  Public  Improvements,  the 
Council  and  the  Board  of  Aldermen  by  voting  for 
many  obnoxious  measures. 


53 


COMMITTEES,   JOINT   MEETINGS   AND 

LOCAL  BOAEDS. 

Committees. — The  Board  of  Alderman  and  the 
Council  each  have  a  large  number  of  committees 
corresponding  generally  to  the  city  departments. 
They  are,  however,  altogether  out  of  touch  with 
them.    Almost  the  first  act  of  the  Board  of  Alder- 
men was  to  instruct  its  Law  Committee  to  wait 
upon  the  Corporation  Counsel  and  to  procure  his 
opinion  and  advice  on  a  certain  question.     That 
Committee  reported  back  that  it  had  obeyed  in- 
structions, but  had  been  treated  with  neglect,  and 
the  opinion  was  not  obtained  in  time  to  be  of  use. 
The  same  condition  existed,  though  to  a  lesser  de- 
gree, in  regard  to  the  relations  between  the  other 
committees  and  their  corresponding  departments. 
The  result  was    that  their    reports    were  seldom 
based  on  any  accurate  information  and  were  wor- 
thy of  but  little  reliance.     Indeed,  reference  to  a 
committee  was  seldom  resorted  to  for  the  purpose 
of  obtaining  information,  but  rather  to  secure  de- 
lay for  private  investigation  or  for  the  purpose  of 
indirectly  defeating  the  measure.    Keferences  were 
sometimes  made  for  the  purpose  of  holding  public 
hearings.     Such  hearings  occasionally  resulted  in  a 
compliance  with  the  popular  wishes,  but  if  the 
measures  were  so  important  as  to  arouse  the  in- 
terest of  the  party  organizations,  the  decisions  of 

54 


Tammany  Hall  were  reported,  regardless  of  tte 
merits  of  the  matter  as  brotio:ht  out  at  the  heariD^s. 
Public  hearings  also  failed  to  work  well  where 
the  measures,  though  of  general  public  bene- 
fit, conflicted  with  the  material  interests  of  some 
class;  because  in  such  cases  the  latter  would  at- 
tend in  a  body,  while  the  general  public,  less  in- 
terested, would  be  comparatively  unrepresented. 
!A.'nd  on  such  occasions  numbers  counted  more  than 
arguments.  Some  of  the  committees  had  a  great 
deal  of  work.  The  Finance  Committee,  for  in- 
stance, had  from  five  to  ten  important  measures  a 
week  committed  to  it,  and  it  worked  diligently  and 
reported  promptly.  But  the  members  of  the  com- 
mittee could  not  possibly  give  the  time  to  properly 
investigate  the  matters  referred  to  them.  Their 
reports,  therefore,  seldom  communicated  any  ad- 
ditional information  to  the  other  members,  or  in 
any  way  explained  complicated  or  uncertain  ques- 
tions and  measures.  Indeed,  many  of  the  reports 
were  signed  without  any  meeting  or  investigation 
by  the  committees,  but  were  handed  around  for  sig- 
nature at  the  general  meetings  of  the  Board,  and 
were  favorably  signed  upon  the  assurance  of  the 
chairman  or  members  interested  that  they  were 
"all  right.'* 

Joint  Meetinffs. — The  Municipal  ^A^ssembly  meets 
formally  in  joint  session  of  its  two  houses  in  eacK 
year  for  two  distinct  purposes,  first  to  fix  the  tax 
rate  and  the  taxes,  and  second  to  consider  the  an- 
nual budsret.  These  meetings  are  presided  over  by 
the  President  of  the  Council.  In  addition,  the 
members  of  the  Assembly,  exclusive  of  the  President 
of  the  Council,  meet  after  each  election  as  Boards 


55 


of  Canvassers,  to  canvass  the  election  returns  of 
the  city. 

On  the  first  Monday  of  July  in  each  year  the  As- 
sembly meets  and  receives  from  the  Department  of 
Taxes  and  Assessments  rolls  of  the  real  and  per- 
sonal estates  in  the  City  of  New  York  on  January 
1st,  of  the  current  year,  together  with  a  state- 
ment of  the  assessed  valuations  of  such  estates  for 
that  year,  as  compared  with  the  year  preceding. 
The  Comptroller  has  already  at  least  four  weeks 
before  this,  as  required  by  the  Charter,  transmit- 
ted to  the  Assembly  a  statement  setting  forth  the 
amounts  by  law  authorized  to  be  raised  by  tax^s 
in  the  year,  which  consists  principally  of  the 
amounts  included  in  the  last  budget,  together  with 
an  estimate  of  all  probable  receipts  by  the  city 
from  all  its  sources  of  revenue,  excepting  some  of 
the  revenues  of  the  sinking  funds.  The  assessment 
rolls  being  then  in  its  possession,  the  Assembly 
causes  the  final  tax  lists  to  be  prepared  upon  them 
as  a  basis,  in  accordance  with  the  assessments  and 
the  tax  rate  when  adopted.  The  statements  it  re- 
fers to  its  joint  Committee  on  Finance.  The  Char- 
ter provides  that  the  Assembly  must  from  the  total 
amount  of  the  estimated  expenditures  deduct  the 
estimated  revenue,  and  to  the  difference  add  such 
sum  not  exceeding  3  per  cent,  thereof  as  in  its 
judgment  may  be  necessary  and  proper  to  meet  all 
probable  deficiencies,  and  authorize  the  resulting 
amount  to  be  raised  by  taxation.  It  must  also 
compute  the  rate  at  which  the  property  assessed 
must  be  taxed  to  raise  the  said  amount.  This  work 
is  all  done  through  the  joint  Committee  on  Fi- 
nance, and  it  reports  the  proper  ordinance  to  the 
[Assembly.    When  the  tax  and  assessment  rolls  are 


completed  they  are  delivered  to  the  Collector  of 
Taxes  with  proper  warrants  authorizing  the  col- 
lection of  the  taxes.    The  taxes  are  confirmed  and 
become  a  lien  upon  the  property  taxed  on  the  date 
of  the  passage  by  the  Assembly  of  the  ordinance 
fixing  them.     But  there  is  no  date  specified  when 
this  must  be  done,  except  that  the  assessment  rolls, 
etc.,  must  be  delivered  to  the  Collector  of  Taxes 
on  or  before  September  1st  in  each  year.    This  al- 
lows an  opportunity  for  some  juggling  in  case  large 
interests  happen  to  be  involved  in  pending  sales  of 
real  estate.     For  when  a  contract  of  sale  is  out- 
standing with  the  title  to  be  passed  on  a  certain 
subsequent  date,  if  the  tax  be  confirmed  before  that 
date,  it  must  be  paid  by  the  seller,  but  if  later,  by 
the  purchaser.     If  the  amounts  involved  be  large 
it  mav  therefore  be  worth  while  to  use  "influence" 
with  the  Assembly  to  hasten  or  delay  the  confirma- 
tion.   It  was  perhaps  due  to  some  such  causes  that 
in  1898  the  Assembly  proceeded  with  great  delib- 
eration and  did  not  confirm  the  taxes  until  August 
23d,  while  in  1899  it  proceeded  hurriedly  and  con- 
firmed them  early  in  July.     This  duty  of  the  As- 
sembly is  really  ministerial,  and  should  be  trans- 
ferred to  some  other  bonrd. 

Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  county  charges  for 
each  county  are  paid  by  taxation  upon  that  countv 
solelv,  the  fnx  rate  varies  slightly  in  the  different 
counties  within  the  city.  In  New  York  Countv  in 
1S99  it  was  2.41  cents  on  the  dollar  of  the  asspssed 
valuation,  w"hioh,  in  the  case  of  real  estate,  amou^tf^ 
to  about  f)f>  per  cent,  of  the  real  valuation.  But 
fhp'  valuation  of  personal  estate  when  found  was 
full,  and  therefore  the  tax  rate  on  it  amounted  to 
2.41  cents  per  dollar  of  its  full  value.  Of  course 
all  possible  methods  are  resorted  to  to  avoid  this 

57 


onerous  imposition,  and  but  little  personal  prop- 
erty can  therefore  be  found  to  be  taxed.  The  en- 
tire assessed  valuation  of  personal  estate  in  New 
York  City  therefore  amounted  to  only  |545,906,- 
565. 

The  other  annual  joint  meeting  of  the  Municipal 
Assembly  is  held  for  the  purpose  of  considering 
the  budget.  The  general  purposes  of  the  budget 
and  the  rules  of  procedure  governing  its  adoption 
have  already  been  described.  The  Charter  pro- 
vides that  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportion- 
ment must  annually  between  the  first  days  of  Oc- 
tober and  November,  prepare  the  budget  for  the 
next  ensuing  year.  After  it  is  made  it  must  be 
signed  by  all  the  members  of  that  Board  and  sub- 
mitted to  the  Assembly.  When,  early  in  Novem- 
ber, 1898,  the  budget  for  1899  was  thus  submitted 
to  the  Assembly,  there  was  but  little  criticism,  and 
it  was  approved  immediately  by  a  party  vote  of  64 
to  15.  But  little  attention  was  paid  to  this  budget 
at  the  time,  either  by  the  members  of  the  Assem- 
bly or  by  the  public,  although  it  amounted  to  |93,- 
000,000,  or  an  increase  of  about  125,000,000  over 
the  combined  expenses  of  the  various  parts  of  the 
city  during  the  last  year  prior  to  consolidation. 
This  neglect  was  largely  due  to  the  facts  that  it 
was  then  difficult  if  not  impossible  to  obtain  fig- 
ures for  accurate  comparison,  and  that  two  of  its 
items  of  about  ?7,000,000  and  $3,000,000,  respect- 
ively, were  apparently  to  meet  deficiencies  or  ex- 
traordinary expenses  attendant  upon  consolida- 
tion. There  was,  however,  a  resolution  introduced 
by  a  Brooklyn  Democrat  directing  that  the  budget 
be  returned  to  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Appor- 
tionment, with  the  request  that  it  appropriate 
?7,000,000  for  much  needed  schoolhouses  and  sites 

58 


and  that  other  items  be  reduced  to  that  extent.  But 
when  the  budget  for  the  next  year  was  submitted, 
although  it  amounted  to  but  $90,000,000,  a  reduc- 
tion of  some  $3,000,000  from  that  of  the  preceding 
year,  it  was  received  by  the  minority  in  an  entirely 
different  spirit.  It  was  quickly  perceived  that  the 
reduction  was  apparent  and  not  real,  and  that  such 
as  it  was  it  had  been  accomplished  not  by  the  omis- 
sion of  former  extravagant  items,  but  by  the  reduc- 
tion of  the  amounts  allowed  for  necessary  current 
repairs  and  maintenance.  Even  the  Democrats 
from  the  outlaying  Boroughs  sharply  attacked  it  on 
these  grounds,  making  many  damaging  specifica- 
tions in  their  charges.  But  they  did  not  have  the 
courage  to  vote  against  it,  and  it  was  therefore  ap- 
proved by  a  party  vote. 

The  following  is  a  brief  summary  of  the  purposes 
for  which  the  money  appropriated  in  the  budget 
for  1900  was  to  be  used.  The  items  are  stated  in 
round  numbers — indeed,  are  only  roughly  esti- 
mated— for  it  is  impossible  to  get  the  exact  figures 
from  the  present  method  of  appropriations : 

Payments  on  indebtedness f  19,600,000 

Payments  for  State  Taxes 7,900,000 

Payments  to  State  and  City  Charitable 

Institutions  and  Libraries 3,400,000 

Payments  for  supplies  and  repairs  to 

schools    2,400,000 

Payments  for  miscellaneous  purposes, 
such  as  printing,  supplies,  con- 
tract work,  judgments,  etc 13,100,000 

Payments  for  salaries  and  wages,  other 

than  for  contract  labor 44,300,000 

Total $90,700,000 

(True  total $90,778,972) 


The  following  is  a  summary  of  the  Budget  for 
1900  as  adopted : 

The  Mayor's  Office:  Salaries,  etc $37,300 

The  Bureau  of  Licenses 9R.455 

The  Municipal  Assembly 200.052 

The  Department  of  Finance:  Salaries,  etc 779,305 

The  Interest  on  City  Debt,  as  follows: 

6?     On  that  of  City  of  New  York  as  constituted  since 

January  1st,  1898 $1,429,369 

^;  On  that  of  City  of  New  York  as  constituted  prior  to 

January  1st,  1898 .5,181,925 

Sr    On  that  of  iformer  City  of  Brooklyn  and  Kinsrs  County  2,772,.589 

*"      "       "     "        "        Corporations  in  Queens  County. .. .  420,739 

"       "     "  Richmond  County 128,139 

r*'^  "    certain  disputed  bonds,  etc.,  principally  of  Queens 

County ^161 ,483         10,094,097 

The  Interest  on  Stock  to  be  issued  within  fiscal  year 884,180 

"          "         "  Revenue  Bonds  for  1900 (estimated) 729.1fi6 

Payments  to  Sinking:  Funds 4,576,561 

Installments  payable 3,362,511 

Rents 315,379 

Borouffh  Presidents:  Salaries,  etc i' 51.300 

Law  Department:  Salaries,  etc 399.758 

Board  of  Public  Improvempnts 239,500 

Department  of  Highways,  (n) 

Central  Administration:  Salaries,  etc $22,000 

Borough  of  Manhattan 950,160 

"         "  the  Bronx 583,160 

"         "   Brooklyn 379.338 

"         "  Queens 199.300 

"        '"  Richmond 117,886          2,251,844 

Department  of  Sewers 803.173 

"           "  Public  Buildings,  Lighting  and  Supplies..  8,819.683 

"            "  Water  Supply 1,442,914 

"           "Parks 1,825.113 

"           "  Public  Charities 1,896.812 

"Correction 762,775 

'•            "  Health 1,055.515 

"            "  Street  Cleaning ,5,031.282 

Police  Department 11.992.508 

Fire               "           4,840.676 

Department  of  Buildings 546.525 

"  Taxes  and  Assessments 335,450 

"            "  Education 14,594.111 

College  of  City  of  New  York  and  Normal  College 375,000 

Coroners 165,150 

Commissioners  of  Accounts 156,000 

Civil  Service  Commission 76,000 

Board  of  City  Record,  for  printing,  etc 460,200 

Libraries  (Public) 214,779 

City  Courts 966,050 

Charitable  Institutions  in  City 2,857,084 

Miscellaneous 606,494 

Total  of  City $79,201,764 

To  meet  expenses  of  County  of  New  York $8,391,332 

"      "             "         "         "        "  Kinffs 2,613,663 

"       "            "         "         "        "  Queens 436,039 

"       "             "         "         "        "  Richmond 136,174         11.577,208 

Total  Budget  (n^) $90,778,972 

(n)  The  anpropriations  for  the  majority  of  the  departments  are  itemized  by 
Boroughs;  but  the  Department, of  Highways  is  alone  itemized  in  this  summary 
t>y  way  of  illustration. 


(tia)  The  budget  for  1901  exceeds  $98,000,000. 

60 


(' 


3 


it  may  be  added  in  explanation  of  the  last  foiir 
items  that,  while  the  counties  still  retain  their  cor- 
porate entities  and  perform  the  usual  functions  of 
county  government,  they  are  forbidden  to  incur  in- 
debtedness, and  have  no  machinery  to  impose  taxes 
or  otherwise  raise  their  necessary  revenue  except 
through  the  City  Government.  Each  county  main- 
tains its  own  County  Clerk,  Sheriff,  District  At- 
torney and  Commissioner  of  Jurors,  and  in  New 
York  and  Kings  Counties  there  are  Registers  of 
Deeds.  And  each  county  is  separately  assessed  and 
taxed  for  its  share  of  the  State  taxes. 

Boards  of  Canvassers. — The  members  of  the  As- 
sembly, with  the  exception  of  the  President  of  the 
Council,  also  meet  annually  as  Boards  of  City  and 
County  Canvassers.  All  of  them  form  the  Board 
of  City  Canvassers,  and  those  representing  districts 
within  each  county  form  the  Board  of  County  Can- 
vassers for  that  county.  The  county  canvass  pro- 
ceeds first.  Each  Assembly  District  is  divided  into 
a  convenient  number  of  election  districts,  and  in 
each  of  them  is  a  polling  place.  Immediately  after 
the  balloting  is  over  and  the  votes  counted,  the  in- 
spectors of  election  at  each  polling  place  make  re- 
turns or  certificates  showing  the  total  number  of 
votes  cast,  the  number  rejected  as  void,  the  num- 
ber counted  though  challenged  and  the  number 
counted  for  each  candidate.  The  original  returns 
are  transmitted  to  the  County  Clerk,  and  the  Board 
of  County  Canvassers  takes  up  these  returns  one 
by  one,  has  the  figures  read  off  and  the  results  care- 
fully tabulated  and  added,  and  then  announces  and 
certifies  the  result  as  to  the  votes  cast  for  all  can- 
didates for  offices  except  general  city  offices.  The 
duties  of  the  canvassers  are  purely  ministerial,  and 

61 


they  cannot  go  behind  the  returns  or  count  the  re- 
jected ballots  or  reject  and  deduct  the  challenged 
ballots,  but  only  in  the  case  of  a  manifest  clerical 
error  on  the  face  of  the  return  they  may  call  upon 
the  inspectors  to  correct  it.  The  vote  as  cast  for 
the  city  officers  elected  at  large  they  report  to  the 
Board  of  City  Canvassers,  which  tabulates  the  vote 
so  reported  by  the  different  boards  of  county  can- 
vassers, and  announces  and  certifies  the  result  in 
the  same  way.  Upon  the  result  of  the  vote  thus  cer- 
tified, the  Board  of  Police  Commissioners,  unless 
restrained  by  the  courts  pending  a  contest,  issues 
certificates  of  election  to  the  successful  candidates. 
The  above  is  of  course  only  a  general  statement  of 
the  procedure,  which  is  rather  complicated.  In 
New  York  County  the  canvass  occupies  from  three 
days  to  a  week.  The  city  canvass  is  a  mere  formal- 
ity, and  is  based  upon  the  returns  from  the  county 
canvasses.  It  occupies  at  the  most  a  few  hours. 
During  the  years  1898  and  1899  the  canvass  was 
delayed  by  the  necessity  of  awaiting  the  returns  of 
the  votes  of  the  soldiers  in  Cuba  and  the  Philip- 
pines. The  canvass  proceeded  as  far  as  possible 
and  then  adjourned  until  the  return  of  the  soldiers' 
votes  was  received;  their  total  was  then  quickly 
added  in  and  the  results  promptly  announced. 

The  duties  performed  by  these  boards  are  en- 
tirely ministerial  and  foreign  to  the  functions  of 
a  legislative  body. 

Local  Boards. — Prior  to  consolidation  there  were 
within  the  territory  now  included  in  the  City  of 
New  York  a  large  number  of  corporate  entities  hav- 
ing control  over  their  local  improvements.  Loosely 
enumerated,  they  were  the  former  City  and  County 
of  New  York;  the  territory  embraced  in  the  Twen- 

62 


ty-third  and  Twenty-fourth  Wards  of  that  city 
(about  half  of  what  is  now  the  Borough  of  the 
Bronx),  which  had  been  given  some  separate  con- 
trol over  its  local  improvements;  Brooklyn  and 
Kings  County;  and  Queens  County,  and  included 
in  it  the  former  towns  of  Long  Island  City,  New- 
town, Flushing,  Jamaica  and  Hempstead.  By  the 
Charter  all  control  over  their  local  improvements, 
even  over  those  payable  by  local  assessments,  was 
taken  away  from  these  counties  and  municipali- 
ties and  vested  in  the  Board  of  Public  Improve- 
ments and  the  Municipal  Assembly.  Thus  there 
was  effected  an  unusual  centralization  of  power  in 
matters  peculiarly  subject  to  local  sentiment. 

It  was  to  offset  or  perhaps  to  disguise  this  effect 
of  the  Charter  that  the  Local  Boards  were  created. 
There  are  twenty-two  of  them,  one  in  each  of  the 
twenty-two  Local  Improvement  Districts  into 
which  the  city  is  divided.  They  are  divided  by  the 
lines  of  the  present  Senate  Districts,  each  of  which 
includes  generally  three  assembly  or  aldermanic 
districts.  The  Local  Board  for  each  district  con- 
sists of  the  Aldermen  and  Councilmen  residing  in 
it  and  the  President  of  the  Borough  ex-ofificio. 
Their  jurisdiction  is  confined  to  the  district  and 
to  those  subjects  and  matters  the  cost  of  which  is 
in  whole  or  in  part  a  charge  upon  the  people  or 
property  of  the  districts  or  of  a  part  of  it.  Where 
an  improvement  covers  more  than  one  district  the 
boards  of  all  the  districts  affected  constitute  the 
local  board  for  it.  These  boards  may  recommend 
the  opening,  closing,  extending,  widening  and  pav- 
ing of  streets,  the  laying  of  sewers,  sidewalks  and 
crosswalks,  and  the  setting  of  lampposts  and  street 
signs.    They  may  also  pass  resolutions  concerning 

63 


any  form  of  nuisance  in  the  district.  They  are  also 
given  power  to  cause  the  flagging  of  sidewalks,  the 
fencing  or  digging  down  of  vacant  lots  and  the  till- 
ing in  of  sunken  lots,  subject  to  the  approval  of 
the  Board  of  Public  Improvements.  But  the  latter 
Board  has  full  power  to  do  the  same,  with  the  ap- 
proval of  the  Municipal  Assembly  and  without  the 
approval  of  the  local  board. 

It  was  attempted  by  the  creation  of  these  boards 
to  establish  a  method  of  initiation  by  the  citizens 
of  a  district  or  neighborhood  of  local  improvements 
of  streets,  sidewalks,  crosswalks,  etc.  The  proced- 
ure provided  is  for  the  citizens  to  present  a  peti- 
tion for  the  proposed  improvement  to  the  President 
of  the  Borough,  by  whom  it  is  submitted  to  the  Lo- 
cal Board,  which  may  then  hold  one  or  more  public 
hearings,  and  after  deliberation  must  approve  or 
disapprove  of  the  proposed  improvement.  If  it  ap- 
proves it  must  forward  its  resolution  recommend- 
ing the  improvement  to  the  Board  of  Public  Im- 
provements, which  must — but  will  not — act  upon  it 
promptly,  and,  if  it  in  turn  approves,  cause  the 
work  to  be  done.  The  expense  of  such  improve- 
ment, if  payable  by  assessment,  cannot  be  extended 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  local  district  within  which 
the  improvement  is  situated.  But  nothing  in  all 
the  provisions  relating  to  these  boards  in  any  way 
limits  the  powers  of  the  Board  of  Public  Improve- 
ments and  the  Assembly  to  go  ahead  and  cause  any 
kind  of  work  payable  by  local  assessment  or  other- 
wise without  the  approval  and  even  against  the 
opposition  of  the  Local  Board. 

After  a  year's  trial  this  elaborate  system  broke 
down,  and  for  a  very  simple  reason.  The  Board  of 
Public  Improvements  is  essentially  a  centralized 

64 


board,  composed  largely  of  members  appointed  by 
the  Mayor,  principally  from  the  Borough  of  Man- 
hattan, and  nearly  all  belonging  to  one  central  po- 
litical organization,  and  in  them  is  vested  all  the 
power  of  initiative;  to  the  wishes  of  the  people  of 
the  outlying  districts  and  to  neighborhood  senti- 
ment generally  they  are  absolutely  indifferent,  and 
they  therefore  ignored  the  recommendations  of  the 
Local  Boards.  After  a  year's  operation  of  the  sys- 
tem all  the  Local  Boards  together  had  recommend- 
ed to  the  Board  of  Public  Improvements  some  480 
measures,  of  which  that  Board  had  acted  upon  only 
16.  It  was  therefore  perfectly  apparent  that  it  was 
useless  to  waste  time  in  procuring  favorable  action 
by  the  Local  Boards,  and  the  people  learned  to  go 
directly  to  the  Board  of  Public  Improvements  and 
to  exert  whatever  influence  they  had  upon  it.  If 
nothing  could  be  done  with  it  directly,  nothing 
could  be  done  indirectly  through  the  Local  Boards. 
And  in  the  same  way  the  Board  of  Estimate  and 
Apportionment  ignored  the  recommendations  of 
these  Boards  and  of  the  Borough  Presidents  in 
preparing  the  budgets,  and  though  guilty  of  unlim- 
ited extravagance  in  salaries,  refused  the  necessary 
funds  for  current  repairs  on  streets  and  for  other 
similar  necessities.  And  yet  it  was  in  these  boards 
that  there  were  evinced  suggestions  of  the  most 
favorable  possibilities  of  local  government.  My 
experience  satisfies  me  beyond  all  doubt  that  in  the 
strengthening  of  these  boards  and  the  creation  of 
larger  boards  for  the  boroughs,  with  extensive  pow- 
ers, lies  the  only  salvation  of  the  city  from  its  pres- 
ent over-centralized  government. 

The  very  atmosphere  of  these  boards  differs  from 
that  of  the  rest  of  the  government,  for  in  them  the 
wishes  of  the  people  seem  to  be  sought  after  and  to 

65 


govern.  For  instance,  in  the  Local  Board  of  which 
I  was  a  member  there  were  six  members — the  Tam- 
many President  of  the  Borough,  two  Tammany 
Councilmen  and  three  Citizens'-Union  Aldermen. 
And  yet  in  spite  of  this  political  division,  we  always 
succeeded  in  coming  to  an  unanimous  conclusion  in 
all  of  about  a  hundred  matters  that  came  before  us. 
And  this  was  not  because  we  approved  them  as  of 
course,  for  we  disapproved  of  as  many  proposed  im- 
provements as  we  recommended.  And  during  the 
first  year,  at  least,  we  always  acted  with  delibera- 
tion and  after  public  hearings.  And  yet  in  no  sin- 
gle instance  did  the  Board  of  Public  Improvements 
act  upon  our  recommendations.  And  the  only  re- 
sult of  our  two  years'  work  that  I  can  recall  was 
the  compliance  of  the  Department  of  Highways 
with  our  request  that  certain  streets  receive  cur- 
rent repairs. 

The  Local  Boards  have  not  even  the  power  of 
veto  over  improvements  payable  by  assessments 
upon  their  respective  districts.  And  in  several 
cases  improvements  were  located  and  carried  out  in 
opposition  to  their  protests.  It  would  seem  that 
where  a  locality  pays  for  an  improvement  its  rep- 
resentatives should  have  some  control  over  it;  but 
the  Charter  has  vested  that  power  exclusively  in  the 
central  boards  and  beyond  the  influence  of  the  peo- 
ple of  the  neighborhood. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  Local  Board  of 
which  I  was  a  member,  after  holding  weekly  meet- 
ings for  about  a  year,  gradually  suspended  its  sit- 
tings, and  finally  ceased  to  meet  altogether.  I  am 
informed,  however,  on  reliable  authority  that  later 
experience  has  been  more  favorable,  and  that  the 
Local  Boards  have  proved  useful  in  an  advisory 
capacity. 

66 


OTHER  ALDERMANIC  DUTIES. 

It  must  not  be  inferred  from  the  foregoing  de- 
scriptions of  the  more  important  acts  and  duties 
of  the  Municipal  Assembly  and  its  members  that 
such  matters  absorbed  the  larger  portion  of  their 
time  and  attention.  A  careful  perusal  of  the  pow- 
ers granted  to  the  Assembly  will  show  that  its  jur- 
isdiction was  mainly  confined  by  the  Charter  to 
more  petty  matters,  and  it  was  therefore  both  nat- 
ural and  necessary  that  its  principal  time  and  at- 
tention should  have  been  devoted  to  them.  It  is 
the  onerous  and  disagreeable  character  of  this  petty 
work  that  makes  membership  in  the  Assembly  dis- 
tasteful to  men  of  education  and  ability,  and  tends 
to  lower  its  character. 

Until  the  Charter  went  into  effect  the  Aldermen 
had  exclusive  control  over  permits  for  street  pa- 
rades and  displays,  for  news,  fruit,  peanut  and 
similar  stands,  and  for  all  building  projections, 
signs,  awnings,  horse-troughs,  lampposts,  etc.,  in 
the  streets  beyond  the  building  line,  subject,  how- 
ever, to  the  Mayor's  veto.  And  generally  each  Al- 
derman was  allowed  to  exercise  exclusive  control 
over  all  such  matters  affecting  his  district  only,  and 
his  time  and  attention  was  largely  devoted  to  them. 
By  the  Charter  the  Councilmen  were  given  joint 
power  with  the  Aldermen.  This  change  has  prac- 
tically resulted  in  three  Councilmen  and  one  Alder- 

67 


man  having  joint  control  over  such  matters 
in  each  aldermanic  district.  The  Alderman 
has  a  veto  over  the  measures  of  the  Coun- 
cilmen  through  his  power  to  defeat  them  in  the 
Board  of  Alderman;  and  the  Oouncilmen  have 
like  power  over  the  Alderman's  measures  when 
they  come  up  in  the  Council.  This  division  of  re- 
sponsibility causes  many  bad  results,  amongst 
others  frequent  deadlocks  between  the  two  bodies 
by  which  all  permits  in  certain  districts,  however 
necessary,  pressing  and  proper,  are  either  refused 
or  indefinitely  delayed.  The  change  from  the 
former  system  is  unjust  to  the  Aldermen.  The 
Councilmen  are  new  and  almost  unknown  officials, 
and  therefore  all  applications  are  made  to  the  dis- 
trict Alderman,  and  he  is  held  responsible  for  all 
improper  permits.  And  yet  he  is  often  forced  to 
allow  such  permits  to  be  granted  in  order  to  avoid 
a  deadlock.  On  the  other  hand  the  Councilmen 
are  not  held  accountable  by  the  people  and  feel  no 
responsibility. 

The  applications  for  these  permits  in  my  dis- 
trict were  very  numerous.  The  applicants  were 
mostly  Italians  of  the  poorest  class  who  could 
speak  no  English  while  I  could  speak  no  Italian. 
They  came  to  my  residence  at  early  morning  and 
late  at  night,  and  besieged  my  office  at  all  hours  of 
the  day ;  and  their  presence  at  both  places  was  dis- 
agreeable in  many  ways.  The  great  majority  of 
the  applications  had  to  be  refused,  although  the 
applicants  were  pressing  in  their  demands,  calling 
again  and  again,  and  offering  all  sorts  of  appeals 
to  one's  sympathies,  bribes,  threats,  tears  and  hys- 
terics to  secure  the  necessary  approval.  The  rea- 
sons for  refusing  them  so  generally  were  that  they 

68 


wanted  permits  for  purposes  forbidden  by  law,  or 
for  locations  where  they  would  become  nuisances 
or  work  injustice.  Thus  many  applications  were 
for  fruit  and  peanut  or  similarly  objectionable 
stands  upon  quiet  residence  streets  such  as  Madi- 
son Avenue  or  crowded  thoroughfares  like  Twenty- 
third  Street.  And  architects  were  constantly  de- 
manding permits  for  iron  and  glass  awnings  and 
other  building  projections  over  the  sidewalks. 
The  neighbors  always  objected  to  such  encroach- 
ments upon  the  highway,  and  on  crowded  streets 
they  were  public  nuisances.  Yet  it  often  took  from 
two  to  five  interviews  of  about  an  hour  each  to 
convince  an  architect  that  his  application  should 
not  be  granted.  And  where  one  did  approve  an 
application,  especially  in  the  case  of  a  permit  for 
storm  doors  or  for  an  advertising  sign  for  a  charit- 
able entertainment,  immediate  action  was  often 
necessary.  And  in  order  to  avoid  the  three  or  four 
weeks'  delay  which  would  result  from  having  the 
ordinance  for  the  permit  go  through  in  the  usual 
course,  great  personal  exertions  on  the  part  of  the 
Aldermen  were  necessary  to  pass  it  promptly 
through  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  and  arrange  in 
advance  with  the  Council  and  the  Mayor  or  his 
clerk  to  have  it  in  turn  promptly  considered  and 
acted  upon  by  them.  And  nearly  every  applica- 
tion required  a  visit  of  inspection  to  the  locality. 
The  amount  of  time  devoted  to  such  matters  varied 
according  to  the  character  of  the  district;  in  mine 
it  amounted  to  from  four  to  ten  hours  a  week,  in- 
cluding often  the  busiest  hours  of  the  day,  and 
this  continued  not  for  a  few  months  only  but 
throughout  the  entire  year.  Some  of  the  Alder- 
men's power  in  such  inn  Iters  may  have  been  used 

69 


as  patronage  and  even  been  made  a  source  of  a 
small  income;  but  generally  it  was  considered  a 
grievous  burden.  It  is  true  that  each  Alderman 
fought  bitterly  any  attempt  of  the  Board  as  a 
whole  to  interfere  with  such  matters  in  his  dis- 
trict. This,  however,  does  not  demonstrate  an  im- 
proper use  of  his  power.  For  in  the  course  of  my 
experience  whenever  the  Board  as  a  whole  inter- 
fered it  was  an  abuse  of  its  power  exercised  in 
obedience  to  party  pressure  or  other  improper  in- 
fluences. Sometimes  the  Aldermen  approved  per- 
mits where  they  should  not  have  done  so ;  but  over 
such  acts  the  Mayor  by  his  veto  exercised  a  salu- 
tary restraint.  These  matters  may  seem  too  petty 
to  merit  such  lengthy  discussion.  But  really  they 
are  important,  for  they  materially  affect  every 
building  that  is  erected  in  the  city,  and  the  peace 
and  comfort  of  every  resident  and  householder. 
And  a  system  of  government  that  makes  their 
proper  administration  difficult  and  dilatory  as  the 
Charter  does  deserves  the  severest  censure. 

A  large  part  of  an  Alderman's  time  is  also  occu- 
pied in  performing  personal  services  and  securing 
"patronage"  for  his  constituents.  This  is  a  long 
established  custom  handed  down  from  the  earlier 
days  when  the  Board  of  Aldermen  was  a  body  of 
dignity  and  power,  and  its  members  persons  of  in- 
fluence and  importance.  The  Board  of  Aldermen 
did  in  fact  occupy  such  a  position  at  one  time  in 
the  city's  history;  and  around  the  office  of  Alder- 
men there  still  lingers  in  the  eyes  of  the  common 
people  some  shadow  of  its  old  importance.  The 
Aldermen  still  appoint  commissioners  of  deeds, 
they  can  perform  the  marriage  ceremony,  and  as 
we  have  seen  each  Alderman  has  still  some  con- 

70 


trol  over  local  permits  within  his  district.  The 
Alderman  is  next  to  the  Tammany  Hall  district 
leader,  supposed  to  be  the  principal  comforter  of 
the  afflicted  and  the  aid  of  the  undeserving  unfor- 
tunates within  his  district.  To  him  come  for  relief 
those  seeking  bail,  many  about-to-be-evicted  ten- 
ants and  hundreds  of  applicants  for  railroad 
passes.  And  all  doubtful  charitable  organizations, 
within  his  district,  count  on  him  as  a  certain  sub- 
scriber. His  free  tickets  to  places  of  amusement 
are  in  great  demand  among  a  certain  class  of  his 
constituents.  In  return  for  the  special  permits 
and  privileges  necessarily  granted  to  them,  race 
tracks,  baseball  grounds,  circuses,  public  balls 
and  large  entertainments  generally  send  free  tick- 
ets to  all  the  Aldermen.  Sometimes  they  were 
voluntarily  sent;  sometimes  they  were  asked  for. 
I  know  that  I  incurred  some  resentment  because  I 
refused  to  demand  tickets  for  such  affairs  in  my 
district.  Particularly  was  this  true  in  the  case 
of  the  Horse  Show,  for  which  I  "put  through"  a 
permit  to  build  a  temporary  shed  over  the  side- 
walk, without  any  free  tickets  resulting.  This 
was  during  the  first  year  of  my  term,  and  as  the 
season  for  the  Horse  Show  approached  the  next 
year,  I  heard  rumors  that  "not  a  thing"  would  be 
done  to  that  resolution  if  I  introduced  it  again. 
Fortunately  for  me  the  Horse  Show  asked  for  no 
renewal  of  the  favor.  The  principal  use  of  these 
tickets  was  for  "patronage"  and  the  pressure  upon 
the  Aldermen  to  procure  them  was  very  strong. 
In  addition  to  procuring  the  tickets  the  Aldermen 
were  expected  to  furnish  messengers  and  postage 
for  their  distribution. 
In  the  same  way  passes  on  all  railways  enter- 

71 


ing  the  city  were  constantly  asked  for,  and 
were  procurable.  Probably  in  return  for  the 
favors  shown  to  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Alder- 
men in  this  way  by  the  railroads  no  legislation 
inimical  to  them  was  ever  passed.  Any  such 
measures  when  introduced  were  promptly  buried 
in  the  railroad  committee. 

The  only  open  struggle  for  patronage  in  the  As- 
sembly took  place  over  the  appropriation  for  the 
celebration  in  honor  of  Admiral  Dewey.  There 
was  at  first  |150,000  appropriated  for  that  purpose, 
but  later  |25,000  additional  was  asked  in  order  to 
build  stands  along  the  line  of  the  land  parade. 
The  necessary  votes  in  the  Assembly  to  pass  this 
second  appropriation  were  only  obtained  in  return 
for  a  promise  by  the  committee  having  the  celebra- 
tion in  charge  to  devote  one  of  the  proposed  stands 
to  the  use  of  the  members  of  the  Assembly  and 
their  guests ;  and  it  was  apparently  agreed  that  each 
Alderman  and  Councilman  should  receive  one  hun- 
dred tickets  for  distribution.  It  was  arranged  that 
these  tickets  should  be  distributed  among  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Assembly  by  a  committee  at  noon  of  the 
day  before  the  first  day  of  the  celebration.  On  at- 
tending at  the  appointed  time  and  place  we  found 
that  the  tickets  had  been  distributed  to  the  more 
favored  the  day  before  and  that  those  that  remained 
were  "short"  in  number.  High  words  and  angry 
controversies  followed,  and  some  of  the  Aldermen 
got  no  tickets  at  all.  I  secured  about  ninety,  which 
I  distributed  as  well  as  I  could  among  about  three 
hundred  applicants  in  my  district. 

When  an  Alderman  performs  a  marriage  cere- 
mony, it  generally  takes  place  at  the  City  Hall, 
though  he  may  be  importuned  to  tie  the  knot  at  all 

72 


convenient  hours  and  places.  Down  in  the  musty 
vaults  of  its  cellar  is  a  large  room  called  the  "Mar- 
riage Bureau,"  presided  over  by  two  rather  sporty 
gentlemen  nicknamed  Cupid  and  Psyche.  To  them 
application  is  made  by  the  couples  wishing  to  be 
married,  and  they  seek  out  the  minister.  If  the 
bride  and  groom  are  persons  of  importance  the 
Mayor's  aid  is  invoked;  otherwise  they  hunt  up  a 
stray  Alderman.  If  the  parties  are  "nice  people" 
the  ceremony  is  performed  in  some  suitable  com- 
mittee room ;  but  if  they  are  only  "dagoes"  the  cel- 
lar room  is  deemed  good  enough  for  them.  The 
Alderman,  somewhat  embarrassed  if  he  be  a  novice, 
faces  the  happy  pair,  who  are  generally  supported 
by  an  interpreter,  and  reads  the  Episcopal  service 
in  English.  Sometimes  the  proceedings  are  as  fol- 
lows: The  Alderman  asks  the  couple:  "Do  you  or 
either  of  you  know  any  just  cause  or  impediment 
why  you  should  not  be  joined  together  in  matri- 
mony?" Thereupon  they  both,  promptly  and  be- 
fore the  interpreter  can  intervene,  nod  vigorously, 
say,  "Yes!  yes!"  and  smile  joyously.  Then  comes 
a  pause  while  the  interpreter  straightens  things 
out.  Then  turning  to  the  groom  the  officiating 
Alderman  asks  him,  "Joachimo,  do  you  take  For- 
tunita  to  be  your  wedded  wife?"  etc.  And 
Joachimo,  warned  by  his  previous  mistake,  re- 
sponds, "No!"  in  a  firm  voice,  while  Fortunita 
beams  her  approval.  But  as  in  a  melodrama  it  all 
comes  out  right  in  the  end.  The  power  to  per- 
form the  marriage  ceremony  is  but  an  incident  of 
the  office  handed  down  from  former  days,  and  is 
neither  much  of  a  burden  nor  a  source  of  abuse. 
But  it  is  not  in  accord  with  the  cjeneral  character 
of  the  office  and  should  bo  abolished. 

73 


EFFECTS  OF  CONSOLIDATION. 

What  are  the  general  effects  of  consolidation?  is 
a  question  that  is  frequently  asked.  It  is  often 
the  purpose  of  such  enquiries  to  question  the  wis- 
dom of  the  act  of  consolidation  itself;  but  the  pre- 
vailing opinion  undoubtedly  is  that  all  the  terri- 
tory now  embraced  within  the  city  should  sooner 
or  later  have  been  united  under  one  government, 
and  that  the  only  open  question  is  whether  it  would 
not  have  been  better  to  have  effected  the  union  by 
a  gradual  assimilation  of  the  parts,  and  to  have 
left  some  residuum  of  control  over  local  affairs 
within  those  parts.  But  to  the  question,  What  are 
the  effects  of  consolidation,  as  it  has  actually  taken 
place  under  the  Charter?  the  answer  may  be  given 
in  indisputable  facts  and  figures. 

Its  principal  effects  have  been :  the  taking  away 
from  subordinate  parts  of  the  city  their  former 
control  over  their  local  affairs  and  improve- 
ments; a  complete  wreck  of  minor  governmental 
functions;  an  expensive  overcentralization  of  ad- 
ministrative functions;  a  ruinous  extravagance; 
and  the  strengthening  of  the  political  organization 
in  control  of  the  city.  Against  these  evil  effects  is 
to  be  offset  a  certain  larger  measure  of  home  rule 
in  the  city  at  large.  But  this  is  not  an  undiluted 
blessing,  for  its  government  is  not  of  a  character 
to  administer  such  powers  wisely,  and  as  the  State 

74 


Legislature  still  continues  to  exercise  its  powers 
in  the  matters  so  delegated  to  the  city  the  result 
is  that  the  openings  to  the  city's  purse  have  been 
doubled.  Many  place  the  blame  for  evil  results 
upon  Tammany  Hall,  the  ruling  party.  But  no  one 
who  is  acquainted  with  the  Kepublican  "machine" 
in  the  city  can  doubt  that  the  result  would  have 
been  the  same  had  that  party  been  successful  in  the 
last  election.     The  Charter  is  therefore  their  real 

cause. 

It  is  difficult  to  estimate  exactly  how  much  more 
the  present  city  costs  annually  than  did  its  parts 
before  they  were  united.  But  the  expenses  of  all 
those  parts  for  1897  did  not  exceed  $68,000,000, 
while  as  now  consolidated  their  estimated  expen- 
ditures for  1900  exceeded  |90,000,000.*  Nor  is  this 
increase  of  |22,000,000  accompanied  by  any  im- 
provement in  administration,  except  possibly  in 
the  Departments  of  Police,  Fire  and  Education, 
which  account  for  about  $7,000,000  of  it.  Espe- 
cially is  there  no  increase  in  repairs  and  current 
improvements ;  on  the  contrary  they  have  been  cut 
down  at  least  so  far  as  they  are  paid  for  out  of 
current  taxation.  The  main  increase  has  been  in 
salaries  and  wages,  for  which — exclusive  of  contract 
labor — the  city  now  pays  the  enormous  total  of  over 
f44,300,000  a  year.f  For  this  increase  of  salaries 
the  Charter  is  both  directly  and  indirectly  respon- 
sible; directly  by  its  express  multiplication  of 
offices,  and  by  its  raising  the  standard  of  salaries 
in  the  other  boroughs  to  correspond  with  the  neces- 
sarily expensive  scale  prevailing  in  Manhattan; 
and  indirectly  by  its  destruction  of  many  forces 

*      For  1901,  they  will  be  about  $98,000,000. 

t      In  1901,  it  wHl  be  $50,000,000. 

75 


that   have   tended  to   promote   economy.      Where 
formerly    a    department    had    an    administrative 
office     in     what     is     now     a     borough,     it     has 
been    continued    with    practically    the    same    or 
an  increased  salaried  force.     In  no  single  instance 
has  there  been  an  economical  change,  or  even  an 
opportunity  for  such  a  change  under  the  Charter, 
Departments  have  been  multiplied,  thus  creating 
many  new  offices.     And  where  formerly  in  some  of 
the  boroughs  there  was  no  department  correspond- 
ing to  that  in  Manhattan,  because  unnecessary  and 
inappropriate,  a  new  office  of  such  department  has 
been  established  in  each  of  such  boroughs,  in  order 
to  extend  the  uniform  system  throughout.     And 
over  these  borough  offices  the  Charter  has  estab- 
lished an  entirely  new  central  office  for  each  de- 
partment and  its  commissioner  or  Board  of  Com- 
missioners, with  its  army  of  clerks  and  assistants. 
And  in  the  case  of  the  six  departments  included  in 
the  Board  of  Public  Improvements,  it  has  estab- 
lished over  them  yet  another  central  office  entitled 
by  that  name,  and  costing  the  city  over  $239,000 
a  year  for  salaries.     Thus  by  the  Charter  salaries 
are  piled  upon  salaries,  and  red  tape  is  wound 
around  red  tape.     The  total  increase  of  salaries  and 
wages — outside   of   the  three   departments    above 
named,  in  which  it  may  be  argued  to  have  been  bene- 
ficial—is about  $16,000,000.     Of  this  increase  but 
little  if  any,  is  really  necessary,  or  in  any  way 
justifiable;  while  nearly  $7,000,000  of  it  is  abso- 
lutely wasted  because  paid  to  officials  who  render 
no  beneficial  services  to  the  city. 

During  the  year  1900  the  present  administration 
will  have  probably  disbursed  nearly  $140,000,000. 
It  has  planned  to  issue  bonds  for  $50,000,000  (iu 

76 


addition  to  bonds  for  |35,000,000  for  the  Kapid 
Transit  Tunnel,  which  will  be  disbursed  by  a  special 
commission  and  during  many  years).  Adding  this 
sum  of  150,000,000  to  the  amount  of  the  budget, 
the  total  is  |140,000,000.  This  is  almost  three 
times  as  much  as  the  expenses  of  the  State  govern- 
ment. And  over  the  expenditure  of  this  enormous 
sum  the  commissioners  of  the  departments  have 
almost  unchecked  control;  and  over  about  sixty 
million  dollars  of  it  that  little  clique  of  irremov- 
able appointive  officers  composing  the  majority  of 
the  Board  of  Public  Improvements  have  absolute 
control.  It  would  almost  seem  as  if  the  Charter 
had  been  drawn  with  the  purpose  of  placing  the 
greatest  amount  of  money  in  the  most  irresponsible 
hands. 

The  Board  of  Public  Improvements  is  "the  nigger 
in  the  woodpile."  It  has  the  legislative  initiative 
in  and  the  administrative  control  over  all  great 
public  improvements ;  it  has  the  disbursement  of  all 
moneys  expended  for  them;  and  it  or  rather  its 
members  have  the  appointment  and  control  over 
all  the  employees  and  officials  engaged  upon  them. 
And  yet  in  the  choice  of  the  commissioners  who 
form  the  majority  of  that  board  the  people  have 
no  direct  voice.  And  within  a  short  time  after  ap- 
pointing them  the  Mayor  has  practically  no  power 
over  them  and  no  responsibility  for  them.  And 
therefore  they  feel  no  responsibility  to  him  or  to 
the  people.  They  have  been  really  selected  for 
their  positions  by  the  "boss,"  and  have  been  mainly 
chosen  from  among  the  Tammany  Hall  district 
leaders.  Their  allegiance  is,  therefore,  to  the  boss 
and  to  their  district  organizations;  and  for  their 
benefit,  and  as  they  may  direct  these  officials  use 

77 


their  public  powers.  They  are  not  qualified  for  the 
positions  they  fill ;  and  their  time,  interest  and  at- 
tention is  mainly  devoted  to  the  petty  local  politics 
of  their  districts.  And  while  they  are  all  men  of 
considerable  ability,  their  ability  is  generally  of 
the  kind  which  finds  its  use  in  carrying  primaries, 
packing  conventions,  and  evading  the  election  laws. 
Where  the  commissionerships  have  not  been  given 
to  district  leaders,  they  have  been  bestowed  upon 
other  leading  men  in  Tammany  Hall,  upon  per- 
sonal friends  of  the  boss  or  upon  the  leaders  of  the 
Brooklyn  Democratic  organization.  From  such 
sources  exclusively  are  recruited  the  men  who  fill 
the  higher  appointive  positions  in  the  city  govern- 
ment, and  control  the  Board  of  Public  Improve- 
ments. Nor  would  it  be  otherwise  should  the  Ke- 
publican  party  win  a  partisan  victory.  For  its  or- 
ganization, in  the  County  of  New  York  at  least,  is 
essentially  similar  in  its  character  and  methods  to 
Tammany. 

The  appointive  officials  in  the  City  Government 
have  the  appointment  of  thousands  of  office  hold- 
ers, and  the  disbursement  of  approximately  $130,- 
000,000  annually.  And  they  are  using  their  power 
with  tremendous  effect  for  political  purposes. 
Perhaps  this  charge  should  not  be  made  against  the 
Departments  of  Police,  Fire  and  Education,  as 
those  departments  are  supposed  to  be  "out  of 
politics.''  Unfortunately,  however,  it  is  known 
that  the  police  are  instruments  to  levy  and  collect 
thousands  of  dollars  in  blackmail  from  the  law- 
breaking  classes  for  the  party  in  power;  and  that 
political  influence  is  potent  within  the  Departments 
of  Fire  and  Education. 

The  $50,000,000  to  be  raised  by  bond  issues,  and 

78 


to  be  paid  out  for  contract  work,  is  a  very  valuable 
asset  to  the  party  in  power.     Not  only  is  there  the 
chance  for  favoritism,  and    even    for    fraudulent 
profits     in     the     awarding      of      contracts,     but 
there    is    also  a  well  defined    percentage    of    the 
money  disbursed  upon  them,  that  is    paid  to  the 
organization  by  the  contractors  in  the  shape  of 
"voluntary"  contributions  to  its  campaign  fund; 
and  the  district  leaders  have  the  appointment  of 
all  the  unskilled  laborers  employed  upon  the  work. 
But  the  salaries  in  the  departments  other  than 
those  last  referred   to   are  the  mainstay  of  the 
organization.     The  recipients  are  the  appointees 
of  the    commissioners,  and    the    offices    are    dis- 
tributed among  the  districts,  and  dealt  out  without 
regard  to  fitness,  according  to  the  value  of  the 
political  services   rendered,  and   the   loyalty    dis- 
played to  the  boss  or  district  leader.     And  all  these 
place  holders  besides  demonstrating  their  gratitude 
by  increased  labor  and  loyalty,  must  also  contribute 
large  assessments  out  of  their  salaries  into  the 
funds  of  the  organization.     As  stated  above  there 
is  an  aggregate  of  about  |7,000,000,  which  is  spent 
in  entirely  useless  salaries.     This  amount  is  really 
used  to  pay  workers  for  Tammany.     All  the  heads 
of  departments,  deputies  for  the  larger  boroughs, 
heads  of  bureaus  and  chief  clerks  have  besides  their 
regular  office  force  certain  "confidentiaF^  clerks, 
stenographers  and  messengers,  who  are  really  used 
as  their  aides  and  assistants  in  their  political  work. 
And  many  of  the  heads  of  departments  do  not  per- 
form the  duties  of  their  offices  themselves  to  any 
great  extent,  but  have  special  deputies  who  do  their 
work  while  they  devote  practically  all  their  time 
to  their  political  labors.     And  there  are  besides 

79 


thousands  of  other  office-holders  who  do  not  work 
more  than  three  or  four  hours  a  week  for  the  city, 
and  who  spend  the  rest  of  their  time  in  political 
employments.  The  services  rendered  at  the  prima- 
ries and  elections  by  these  men  arci  very  important, 
and  count  for  a  great  deal  in  results.  And  more- 
over the  assessments  that  they  can  afford  to  pay 
are  very  large. 

The  total  result  of  all  machinery,  money  and 
influences  thus  controlled  by  Tammany  Hall  in  a 
fairly  contested  election  is  estimated  by  those  com- 
petent to  judge  as  high  as  60,000  votes.  A  ma- 
jority of  one,  or  as  happened  at  the  last  election, 
a  mere  plurality  can  thus  under  the  Charter  confer 
an  enormous  power  upon  the  successful  party,  and 
give  it  such  a  hold  upon  the  city  that  only  a  political 
resolution  can  overthrow  it;  and  it  also  gives  to 
the  successful  machine  in  the  city  an  influence  in 
the  political  affairs  of  its  party  in  the  State,  far 
in  excess  of  what  it  is  entitled  to  by  its  vote  or  its 
general  merits.  No  such  tremendous  opportuni- 
ties inured  to  the  dominant  party  in  the  former  and 
smaller  city.  This  is  an  effect  of  consolidation 
under  the  Charter. 

I  will  illustrate  what  I  have  called  the  wreck  of 
minor  governmental  functions  effected  by  the  Char- 
ter by  one  practical  instance.  Every  owner  of 
real  estate  must  keep  his  sidewalk  well  paved  and 
in  good  repair.  If  he  neglect  to  do  so  the  Depart- 
ment of  Streets  and  Highways  may  serve  a  notice 
upon  him  directing  him  to  repave  it.  And  if  he 
fail  to  comply  with  that  notice  the  city  may  have 
it  repaired  at  his  expense.  This  situation  is  fre- 
quently arising,  for  property  owners  constantly 
allow    carriageways    over    their    sidewalks    into 

80 


stables,  yards  or  excavations  to  get  into  such  a  bad 
condition  as  to  become  a  nuisance  to  the  neigh- 
bors. And  the  latter  are  constantly  seeking  their 
remedy.  Formerly  it  was  brief  and  simple.  Now 
under  the  Charter  it  is  mysterious  and  lengthy. 
Under  certain  circumstances  it  requires  an  ordi- 
nance which  must  be  approved  by  the  Board  of 
Public  Improvements  and  the  Board  of  Estimate 
and  Apportionment,  be  passed  by  the  Council  and 
the  Board  of  Aldermen  and  be  approved  by  the 
Mayor.  And  the  Assembly  will  probably  require 
its  approval  by  the  Local  Board.  And  being  a 
financial  ordinance  it  is  subject  to  the  strict  rules 
of  the  Charter  relating  to  such  measures  and  to 
the  many  consequent  difficulties  and  delays.  And 
every  time  it  is  passed  by  any  of  these  bodies,  and 
when  it  is  approved  by  the  Mayor,  and  every  time 
it  comes  up  in  each  branch  of  the  Assembly — and 
it  must  come  up  at  least  twice  in  each,  for  it  cannot 
be  passed  at  the  meeting  at  which  it  is  introduced, 
— it  must  be  printed  in  the  City  Record  at  the 
city's  expense.  It  will  therefore  take  at  least  a 
year's  diligent  lobbying  to  procure  the  passage  of 
such  an  ordinance.  And  it  will  cost  the  city  from 
|10  to  |20  for  printing.  And  all  this  cost  and  time 
and  trouble  is  necessary  to  effect  what  may  be  only 
$10  worth  of  repaving. 

The  effect  of  the  Charter  in  depriving  the  differ- 
ent localities  of  control  over  their  local  affairs  and 
improvements  has  already  been  pointed  out  in  the 
foregoing  description  of  the  local  boards.  It  con- 
stitutes a  most  serious  evil.  Take  for  instance 
Queens  Borough,  which  is  still  largely  open  country 
and  very  dependent  upon  and  justly  proud  of  its 
system  of  fine  turnpike  roads.     During  the  last  two 

81 


years  the  centralized  city  government  has  appro- 
priated for  the  maintenance  of  those  highways  only 
about  one-half  of  what  was  formerly  found  to  be 
absolutely  necessary  for  that  purpose,  and  they  are 
consequently  fast  falling  into  a  ruinous  condition. 
And  yet  the  taxes  in  that  borough  have  not  been 
reduced,  and  the  money  expended  in  it  is  no  less 
than  formerly.  Now,  however,  instead  of  being 
used  for  such  useful  purposes,  it  is  being  spent  in 
salaries  to  useless  place  holders.  Had  the  people 
of  that  locality  some  control  over  this  matter  such 
a  condition  of  affairs  would  not  long  continue. 
But  it  is  in  the  matter  of  local  improvements,  espe- 
cially local  improvements  payable  by  local  assess- 
ments, that  the  results  are  most  demoraliz- 
ing. The  Boroughs  of  the  Bronx,  Queens  and 
Richmond  still  contain  large  tracts  of  country 
land,  but  throughout  them,  especially  through- 
cut  the  first  two,  the  city  is  spreading 
rapidly,  and  it  is  necessary  for  their  proper  de- 
velopment that  streets  should  be  promptly  laid  out, 
graded,  paved  and  curbed  and  sewers  and  water 
pipes  laid.  These  works  are  paid  for  by  local 
assessments.  Even  in  the  former  and  smaller  city 
it  was  found  that  to  leave  such  matters  under  the 
control  of  the  general  city  government  and  its  de- 
partments led  to  delay  and  non-compliance  with  the 
wishes  of  the  people  of  the  locality  most  interested, 
and  which  needed  the  majority  of  such  improve- 
ments, that  was  the  territory  embraced  in  the  23d 
and  24:th  Wards,  now  the  Borough  of  the  Bronx. 
Consequently  and  as  a  result  of  agitation  by  the 
people  of  that  section  a  special  board  of  commis- 
sioners elected  by  them  was  given  charge  of  their 
local   improvements,  and  the  change  was  found 

82 


to  be  most  beneficial  and  efficient.  It  was,  there- 
fore, in  direct  violation  of  the  experience  of  the 
past,  that  the  Charter  took  the  control  of  local 
improvements  in  such  outlying  districts  away 
from  their  local  authorities,  and  vested  it  in  the 
Board  of  Public  Improvements,  and  in  the  general 
body  of  the  Municipal  Assembly,  and  left  not  even 
a  right  of  veto  to  the  elected  representatives  of  the 
locality  interested.  The  necessity  of  the  approval 
by  general  boards  of  matters  in  which  only  the 
localities  have  any  interest  gives  the  political  or- 
ganization in  control  of  the  city  an  additional  hold 
upon  the  localities,  and  a  lever  by  which  it  can 
coerce  their  representatives.  Thus  it  often  costs 
a  member  of  the  Assembly  three  bad  votes  to  pur- 
chase the  approval  of  a  local  improvement  of  press- 
ing necessity,  one  to  get  it  through  the  Board  of 
Public  Improvements,  and  one  to  get  it  through 
each  house  of  the  Assembly.  The  measures  for 
which  his  vote  is  thus  bought  may  be  ^^jobs"  of  the 
worst  kind  against  which  he  might  have  the  in- 
dependence to  vote,  did  not  the  necessities  of  the 
people  he  represents  require  his  entire  subservience 
to  the  central  powers  controlling  their  local  improve- 
ments. But  not  even  by  the  greatest  subservience 
can  the  local  representatives  procure  the  prompt 
action  that  is  often  necessary  in  such  matters, 
for  the  procedure  is  necessarily  slow  and  uncertain. 
The  President  of  the  Borough  of  the  Bronx,  himself 
a  member  of  Tammany  Hall,  has  declared  that  as  a 
result  of  the  changes  made  by  the  Charter  the  prog- 
ress of  necessary  improvements  in  his  borough 
was  abruptly  terminated  by  consolidation,  and  has 
remained  almost  suspended  ever  since.  And  the 
Presidents  of  Brooklyn,  Queens  and  Richmond  have 

83 


united  in  his  condemnation  of  the  Charter,  and 
have  urgently  demanded  relief. 

Although  public  criticism  has  been  almost  unani- 
mously adverse,  those  who  drew  the  Charter  still 
contend  that  it  is  reasonably  satisfactory  and  de- 
serving of  further  trial,  that  its  apparent  faults 
are  due  to  the  maladministration  of  the  present 
government,  and  that  all  that  it  needs  are  slight 
amendments  from  time  to  time  as  minor  defects 
are  discovered.  But  public  opinion  demands  more 
radical  action,  and  pursuant  to  an  act  of  the  last 
Legislature  the  Governor  has  appointed  a  com- 
mission to  revise  the  Charter.  To  that  Commis- 
sion the  people  of  the  City  of  New  York  look  for 
relief  from  a  grievous  blunder. 

Note. — This  article  was  in  the  hands  of  the  publishers 
before  the  report  of  the  Coin  mission      was  published. 


84 


APPENDIX. 

For  the  benefit  of  those  who  may  desire  a  more 
complete  description  of  the  city  government  the 
following  brief  enumeration  of  the  powers  and 
duties  of  the  remaining  departments,  not  described 
in  the  foregoing  pages,  is  added: 

POLICE  DEPARTMENT.  This  department  is 
governed  by  the  Police  Board,  which  consists  of 
four  commissioners  appointed  by  the  Mayor  for 
terms  of  six  years,  and  who  receive  salaries  of 
$5,000  a  year  each.  This  board  is  nominally  bi- 
partisan, it  being  provided  by  the  Charter  that  no 
more  than  two  of  the  Commissioners  when  ap- 
pointed shall  belong  to  the  same  political  party, 
or  be  of  the  same  political  opinion  in  state  and 
national  politics.  They  have  control  of  the  govern- 
ment, administration,  disposition  and  discipline  of 
the  police  force,  and  of  the  Bureau  of  Elections. 
They  have  the  power  to  appoint  and  remove  sub- 
ordinates, subject  however  to  the  Civil  Service 
law,  and  to  the  restriction  that  no  policeman  shall 
be  appointed  who  is  over  thirty  years  of  age.  They 
are  required  to  publish  all  applications  for  ap- 
pointment. In  case  of  promotions  it  is  provided 
that  selections  must  be  made  from  certain  grades. 
They  are  authorized  to  increase  the  number  of 
patrolmen,   provided  appropriations  therefor  are 

85 


made  by  the  proper  departments.  Unless  other- 
wise provided  by  the  Municipal  Assembly  on  the 
recommendation  of  the  Police  Board,  it  is  pre- 
scribed that  the  police  force  shall  consist  of  a  Chief 
of  Police,  five  Deputies,  ten  Inspectors,  Captains 
not  to  exceed  one  to  each  fifty  patrolmen,  ser- 
geants, roundsmen,  detective  sergeants,  surgeons, 
etc.,  in  prescribed  numbers,  and  patrolmen  to  the 
number  of  6,382.  A  part  of  this  force  may  be 
organized  into  a  Central  Detective  Bureau. 

The  Chief  of  Police  is  the  chief  executive  officer 
of  the  force,  and  is  responsible  for  the  execution  of 
all  laws,  and  for  the  enforcement  of  the  rules  and 
regulations  of  the  department  as  adopted  by  the 
Police  Board.     He  can  be  removed  only  by  the 
Board.     He  assigns  the  officers  and  men  to  duty, 
and  has  the  power  to  transfer  them  from  station 
to  station  within  the  city ;  and  he  has  the  power  to 
suspend   them   from    duty   pending   the   trial    of 
charges.     All  charges  are  tried  by  one  or  more 
commissioners  under  rules  to  be  prescribed  by  the 
Board.     The  commissioners  may  issue  subpoenas 
and  administer  oaths,  and  may  punish  by  repri- 
mand, by  forfeiting  or  withholding  pay  not  to  ex- 
ceed thirty  days,  by  suspension    or   by  dismissal. 
Policemen  cannot  receive  gratuities  without  the 
permission  of  the  Board  openly  applied  for:  and 
they  cannot  make  political  contributions. 

The  Police  Board  may  offer  rewards  to  in- 
formers ;  in  case  of  emergency  may  appoint  special 
patrolmen  without  pay;  it  may  appoint  special 
patrolmen  employed  by  private  parties  or  corpora- 
tions, and  may  detail  men  to  assist  other  depart- 
ments. This  department  has  jurisdiction  over 
lost  and  stolen  property,  to  which  subject  several 

86 


provisions  of  the  Charter  relate.  It  also  has  charge 
of  the  inspection  of  boilers  and  of  the  licensing  of 
public  exhibitions,  immigrant  boarding  houses, 
hotel  runners  and  similar  matters.  It  is  also  its 
duty  to  make  and  enforce  rules  and  regulations  as 
to  the  navigable  waters  within  the  city. 

There  is  a  Police  Pension  Fund  to  which  fund 
are  applied  all  fines  from  the  police,  and  also  the 
fees  received  from  certain  licenses.  Policemen 
over  fifty-five  years  of  age,  or  who  have  served 
twenty  years  or  are  disabled  may  be  pensioned. 
Pensions  may  also  be  given  to  widows  and  chil- 
dren under  certain  conditions. 

The  Bureau  of  Elections  is  a  separate  bureau  of 
this  department.  It  has  control  of  elections 
throughout  the  entire  city,  and  has  the  care  of  the 
records  thereof.  Its  head  is  the  Superintendent 
of  Elections,  who  is  appointed  by  the  Police  Board. 
This  bureau  does  not  canvass  the  votes,  which  dutv 
is  performed  by  the  City  and  County  Boards  of 
Canvassers.  All  the  election  officers,  however,  who 
are  present  at  the  polling  places,  and  have  charge 
of  the  registration  of  the  voters,  and  of  the  count- 
ing of  the  votes,  are  appointed  by  and  are  subject 
to  the  control  of  this  department,  subject  to  the 
general  election  law  which  it  is  its  duty  to  carry 
out  and  enforce,  and  which  requires  that  these 
officers  shall  be  evenly  divided  between  the  two  prin- 
cipal parties. 

FIKE  DEPAKTMENT.  The  head  of  this  de- 
partment is  the  Fire  Commissioner,  who  is  ap- 
pointed by  the  Mayor  for  a  term  of  six  years,  and 
receives  a  salary  of  |7,500  a  year.  This  is  a  change 
from  the  former  system  in  which  this  department 

87 


was  governed  by  a  board ;  and  it  is  practically  the 
only  instance  in  which  those  who  drew  the  Charter 
yielded  to  the  general  demand  for  single  headed 
commissions. 

The  Commissioner  has  one  deputy  for  the  Bor- 
oughs of  Brooklyn  and  Queens. 

He  may  establish  such  bureaus  as  may  be  neces- 
sary and  convenient,  of  which,  however,  three  are 
prescribed.  One  is  charged  with  the  duty  of  pre- 
venting and  extinguishing  fires,  and  protecting 
property  from  water  used  at  fires,  whose  head  is  the 
Chief  of  Department.  Another  is  charged  with  the 
enforcement  of  the  laws  relating  to  the  storage, 
sale  and  use  of  combustibles,  whose  head  is  the 
Inspector  of  Combustibles.  The  third  investigates 
the  origin  of  fires,  and  its  principal  officers  are  the 
Fire  Marshals. 

The  Commissioner  regulates  the  government  and 
discipline  of  the  department,  and  fixes  salaries,  not 
to  exceed  the  appropriation  therefor.  Very  full 
powers  are  given  to  this  department  both  in  fight- 
ing fires  and  in  investigating  the  causes  of  fires. 
There  is  a  pension  fund  for  firemen,  and  to  provide 
it  special  taxes  are  laid  on  insurance  companies 
doing  business  in  the  city.  There  are  also  some 
very  elaborate  and  stringent  provisions  relating  to 
the  storage  and  sale  of  combustibles.  They  are  all 
old  and  are  merely  re-enacted ;  some  of  them,  how- 
ever, are  singularly  inappropriate  if  not  nonsensical 
when  applied  to  the  farming  lands  of  Richmond 
and  Queens,  although  they  were  very  proper  in  the 
densely  populated  Borough  of  Manhattan,  as  for 
instance  the  law  that  20  tons  of  hay  cannot  be 
kept  in  a  wooden  barn.  Such  matters,  or  at  least 
the  right  to  amend  these  regulations,  should  have 

88  - 


been  left  to  the  Municipal  Assembly,  and  doubtless 
would  have  been  had  the  Charter  Commissioners 
had  time  to  consider  such  minor  questions. 

THE  DEPAETMENT  OP  TAXES  AND  AS- 
SESSMENTS is  presided  over  by  the  Board  of 
Taxes  and  Assessments,  which  consists  of  a  Presi- 
dent, appointed  by  the  Mayor  for  six  years,  with  a 
salary  of  |8,000,  and  four  other  Commissioners, 
also  appointed  by  the  Mayor  for  terms  of  four  years, 
and  with  salaries  of  |7,000  a  year.  They  may  ap- 
point forty  deputies  to  hold  office  at  their  pleasure, 
and  fix  the  amount  of  their  salaries  within  the 
appropriation  therefor.  The  Board  may  have  an 
office  in  each  Borough.  It  is  their  duty  to  assess 
all  taxable  real  and  personal  property  in  the  city, 
and  to  receive  the  taxes  thereon.  A  full  code  is 
contained  in  the  Charter  as  to  the  method  of  as- 
sessment, the  confirmation  of  the  assessment  and 
the  fixing  of  the  taxes  by  the  Municipal  Assembly, 
and  the  record  of  the  taxes  and  their  collection. 
Upon  application  made  within  proper  time  the 
Board  may  reduce  or  remit  an  assessment;  and 
upon  apeal  (certiorari  is  the  technical  term)  there- 
from the  Courts  may  reduce  or  vacate  an  assess- 
ment for  fraud  or  substantial  error,  but  not  for 
technical  irregularities.  The  Charter  omits  to  give 
any  list  of  property  or  classes  of  property  exempt 
from  taxation,  for  which  therefore  reference  must 
be  had  to  the  Consolidation  Act  and  many  other 
statutes. 

The  Receiver  of  Taxes  is  the  official  of  this  de- 
partment to  whom  taxes  are  paid.  He  daily  ac- 
counts for  and  pays  over  all  moneys  received  to 
the  Chamberlain. 

89 


All  taxes,  assessments  and  water  rates  are  a  lien 
upon  the  land  affected,  which  may  be  sold  to  pay 
them.  The  Charter  contains  a  full  code  of  proceed- 
ings for  that  purpose ;  and  also  certain  appropriate 
provisions  for  enforcing  the  personal  property 
taxes. 

There  is  also  in  this  department  a  Board  of  As- 
sessors, consisting  of  five  assessors,  receiving  $3,000 
a  year  each,  whose  duty  it  is  to  make  all  assess- 
ments for  local  improvements,  other  than  those 
determined  in  court  proceedings  as  hereafter  de- 
scribed. Such  assessments  can  never  exceed  one- 
half  the  value  of  the  property.  Assessments  may 
now  be  laid  upon  water  front  property  for  deepen- 
ing the  water.  In  the  Boroughs  of  Manhattan  and 
the  Bronx  (the  old  City  of  New  York),  assess- 
ments for  repaving  a  street  once  paved  can  onlv 
be  laid  with  the  consent  of  the  majority  of  the 
property  owners,  but  the  Charter  is  so  vague  that 
it  is  impossible  to  say  definitely  what  the  law  is 
in  that  respect  in  the  other  boroughs.  Where 
property  is  built  upon,  damages  may  be  awarded 
to  it  for  changing  the  grade  of  a  neighboring  street. 
Appeals  from  this  Board  are  to  the  Board  of  Re- 
vision of  Assessments,  which  consists  of  the  Comp- 
troller, the  Corporation  Counsel  and  the  President 
of  the  Board  of  Public  Improvements. 

The  city  is  authorized  to  acquire  for  the  use  of 
the  public  the  ownership  of  lands  for  streets,  for 
Darks  and  approaches,  and  for  approaches  to 
bridges  and  tunnels,  and  of  land  under  water  for 
bridges  and  tunnels.  "The  Board  of  Public  Im- 
provements is  authorized  to  direct  the  same  to  be 
done,  whenever  and  as  often  as  it  shall  deem  it 
for  the  public  interests  so  to  do."    This  power  is 

90 


new  and  is  a  very  large  addition  to  the  power  of 
the  City  Government.  A  full  code  prescribing  the 
Court  proceedings  for  that  purpose  is  contained  in 
the  Charter.  The  method  is  by  the  appointment 
by  the  Court  of  three  Commissioners,  who  examine 
into  the  subject,  hear  evidence  and  report  awards 
for  the  value  of  the  property  taken  and  for  damages 
for  the  property  injured,  and  assessments  for  the 
value  of  the  benefit  to  the  neighboring  property 
favorably  affected.  This  report  is  subject  to  the 
confirmation  of  the  Supreme  Court. 

THE  DEPAKTMENT  OP  PARKS  is  governed 
by  the  Park  Board,  consisting  of  three  Commission- 
ers, appointed  by  the  Mayor  for  terms  of  six  years, 
one  for  the  Boroughs  of  Manhattan  and  Eichmond, 
one  for  the  Bronx,  and  one  for  Brooklvn  and 
Queens.  One  is  designated  by  the  Mayor  as  the 
President  and  they  each  receive  a  salary  of  $5,000 
a  year.  They  have  charge  of  the  government  and 
regulation  of  all  parks,  public  places  and  places 
for  museums,  gardens,  etc. ;  for  which  purposes 
the  Charter  provides  that  the  city  may  receive  gifts 
and  grants  of  lands  and  money.  There  are  special 
provisions  relating  to  certain  libraries  and  gardens. 
The  Board  appoints  a  landscape  architect  and  all 
subordinates  and  fixes  their  salaries  within  the  ap- 
propriation therefor.  It  is  provided,  however,  that 
no  work  of  art  shall  become  the  property  of  the  city, 
or  be  located  in  any  public  place,  and  that  no  work 
of  art  at  present  belonging  to  the  city  shall  be  re- 
moved, relocated  or  altered  without  the  approval 
of  the  Municipal  Art  Commission.  This  body  con- 
sists of  the  Mayor ;  the  President  of  the  Metropol- 
itan Museum  of  Art ;  the  President  of  the  Brooklyn 

91 


Institute  of  Arts  and  Sciences;  one  painter,  one 
sculptor,  one  architect  and  three  laymen,  to  be 
selected  by  the  Mayor  from  a  list  of  not  less  than 
three  times  the  number  to  be  appointed,  proposed 
by  the  Fine  Art  Federation.  The  members  of  this 
body  serve  without  pay. 

THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  DOCKS  AND 
FEERIES  is  presided  over  by  the  Board  of  Docks, 
composed  of  three  Commissioners  appointed  by  the 
Mayor  for  terms  of  six  years.  They  elect  their 
own  President  from  among  their  number  and  he  re- 
ceives a  salary  of  $6,000  a  year,  and  the  others 
$5,000  a  year."^ 

The  chapter  of  the  Charter  relating  to  this  de- 
partment is  in  a  very  confused  condition  and  con- 
tains principally  extracts  from  and  references  to 
previously  existing  laws ;  in  general  it  may  be  said 
that  this  Board  succeeds  merely  to  the  powers  of 
the  various  former  Boards  in  the  different 
Boroughs.  They  have  charge  of  all  wharf  property 
belonging  to  the  city  and  have  the  exclusive  govern- 
ment and  regulation  of  all  wharves,  docks  and 
marginal  streets  in  the  city.  They  also  have  charge 
of  ferries,  subject  in  certain  particulars  to  the  ap- 
proval of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund ; 
and  it  is  also  their  duty  to  sound  and  survey  the 
water  front  when  necessary. 

There  is  already  a  plan  of  docks  for  a  large  part 
of  the  city  established  by  act  of  the  Legislature, 
but  this  may  be  altered  by  the  Dock  Board  in  cer- 
tain particulars  with  the  consent  of  the  Commis- 
sioners of  the  Sinking  Fund.  They  cannot,  how- 
ever, change  the  exterior  line  of  piers  and  bulk- 
heads where  the  same  is  established  by  statute. 

92 


They  may  purchase  private  wharf  property  or  con- 
demn it  in  the  method  used  in  acquiring  street 
property.  They  may  lease  doclvs,  regulate  the 
charges  for  public  docks  and  set  aside  certain 
wharf  property  for  the  sole  use  of  special  kinds  of 
commerce,  and  may  set  aside  certain  piers  for  public 
recreation  or  for  the  use  of  the  Street  Cleaning  De- 
partment or  the  Board  of  Health. 

They  may  make  leases  of  ferry  franchises  to  the 
highest  bidders  for  not  longer  than  ten  years  with 
the  approval  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Sinking 
Fund. 

There  is  a  schedule  of  rates  for  wharfage  in- 
cluded in  the  Charter  which  "it  shall  be  lawful  to 
charge.'^  Dock-masters,  who  are  officers  created 
under  previously  existing  laws,  are  continued,  but 
for  their  number  and  duties  reference  must  be  made 
to  those  laws.  They  are,  however,  expressly  given 
by  the  Charter  certain  powers  to  assign  and  regu- 
late the  position  of  vessels  at  docks.  This  chapter 
of  the  Charter  contains  quite  a  number  of  special 
provisions  not  necessary  to  mention. 

THE     DEPARTMENT     OF     BUILDINGS     is 

governed  by  the  Board  of  Buildings,  which  consists 
of  three  Commissioners  appointed  by  the  Mayor 
for  terms  of  six  years;  one  for  Manhattan  and  the 
Bronx,  and  one  for  Brooklyn,  who  receive  |7,000 
a  year  each,  and  one  for  Queens  and  Richmond, 
who  receives  |3,500  a  year.  They  must  be  archi- 
tects or  builders  of  at  least  ten  years'  experience. 
One  of  them  is  designated  as  President  by  the 
Mayor.  It  is  their  duty  to  enforce  the  building 
laws  of  the  city,  and  probably  also  to  enforce  so 
much  of  the  Tenement  House  Laws  as  relate  to 

93 


tenement  buildings.  Each  has  jurisdiction  within 
his  respective  Borough  or  Boroughs.  An  appeal, 
however,  lies  from  the  decision  of  a  single  Commis- 
sioner to  the  Board  of  Commissioners,  except  in  the 
Boroughs  of  Manhattan  and  The  Bronx,  where  the 
appeal  by  special  act  of  the  Legislature  must  be 
to  a  Board  of  Examiners  consisting  of  certain  ex- 
perts specified  by  statute.  The  appeal  must  be 
taken  within  ten  days  after  the  entry  of  a  decision 
of  the  Commissioner.  However,  the  Commissioner 
is  not  limited  as  to  the  time  in  which  he  must  de- 
cide and  he  need  give  no  notice  of  his  decision. 

The  Board  of  Examiners  in  Manhattan  and  the 
Bronx  have  very  broad  powers  to  vary  or  modify 
any  rule  of  the  Board  or  any  law  upon  written  ap- 
plication ^'where  difficulties  occur  in  carrying  out 
the  strict  letter  of  the  law,  so  that  the  spirit  of  the 
law  shall  be  observed  and  public  safety  secured 
and  substantial  justice  done.'' 

DEPAKTMENT  OF  PUBLIC  CHARITIES. 
This  department  has  general  charge  over  all  hos- 
pitals, asylums,  almshouses,  and  similar  institu- 
tions belonging  to  the  city,  with  a  few  exceptions, 
and  excepting  also  some  similar  institutions  under 
the  Department  of  Correction  and  the  Department 
of  Health.  This  department  is  governed  by  the 
Board  of  Public  Charities,  consisting  of  three  Com- 
missioners appointed  by  the  Mayor  for  terms  of 
six  years,  one  for  the  Boroughs  of  Manhattan  and 
the  Bronx,  one  for  the  Boroughs  of  Brooklyn  and 
Queens,  and  a  third  for  Richmond.  The  two  former 
receive  |7,500  a  year  and  the  third  $2,500.  One  of 
them  is  designated  by  the  Mayor  as  President.  They 
each  have  the  power  to  appoint  and  remove  a  deputy 

94 


at  pleasure,  and  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Ap- 
portionment and  the  Municipal  Assembly  may  pro- 
vide for  further  deputies.  They  have  the  power 
to  establish  by  majority  vote  rules  and  regulations 
for  their  department.  They  determine  whether 
children  in  private  institutions  for  whom  the  city 
makes  any  payment  have  been  received  and  retained 
in  accordance  with  the  rules  of  the  State  Board  of 
Charities  on  that  subject.  They  are  in  their  re- 
spective boroughs  the  overseers  of  the  poor,  and 
must  also  make  provision  for  the  care  of  vagrant 
and  indigent  persons.  They  succeed  to  all  the 
powers  granted  in  their  boroughs  to  indenture  and 
otherwise  provide  for  indigent  and  destitute  chil- 
dren; and  they  may  commit  destitute  children  to 
private  institutions  and  must  investigate  all  appli- 
cations for  commitment  made  to  a  city  magistrate. 
They  distribute  relief  to  the  indigent  blind,  insti- 
tute bastardy  proceedings,  compel  the  support  of 
poor  persons  by  relatives,  and  compel  the  mainte- 
nance of  abandoned  wives  and  children.  Their 
duties  and  powers  vary  slightly  in  the  different 
boroughs. 

THE  DEPAKTMENT  OF  CORRECTION  is, 
as  formerly,  presided  over  by  a  single  Commis- 
sioner, w^ho  is  appointed  by  the  Mayor  for  a  term 
of  six  years  and  who  receives  a  salary  of  $7,500  a 
year.  He  must  have  his  principal  office  in  the 
Borough  of  Manhattan,  wath  a  branch  office  in 
Brooklyn.  He  has  the  power  to  appoint  and  re- 
move at  will  all  necessary  deputies,  wardens,  sub- 
ordinate officers  and  assistants.  All  the  city's  in- 
stitutions for  the  care  and  custody  of  criminals 
and  misdemeanants  are  under  his  charge  and  con- 

95 


trol.  This  does  not  include  the  county  jails.  The 
only  peculiar  provision  of  the  law  as  to  this  de- 
partment is  that  which  directs  the  Commissioner 
to  keep  a  record  of  all  persons  committed  for  in- 
toxication and  disorderly  conduct,  and  which  pro- 
vides that  if  they  are  committed  again  for  such  a 
cause  within  two  years  the  Commissioner  shall  de- 
tain them  for  a  longer  period,  and  that  they  must 
be  committed  by  the  magistrate  subject  to  this  pro- 
vision. It  was  in  force  several  years  before  the 
Charter,  and  is  therefore  not  new.  It  has,  however, 
been  declared  unconstitutional  by  the  courts. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  EDUCATION.  There  are 
four  Borough  Boards  of  Education  in  this  depart- 
ment, one  for  the  Boroughs  of  Manhattan  and  the 
Bronx,  consisting  of  twenty-one  members,  one  for 
Brooklyn,  consisting  of  forty-five  members,  and  one 
each  for  Queens  and  Richmond,  consisting  of  nine 
members  each.  Each  Board  elects  its  own  presi- 
dent. The  members  of  these  Boards  are  ap- 
pointed by  the  Mayor  for  terms  of  three  years  and 
receive  no  salary.  The  head  of  this  department  is 
the  Board  of  Education  of  the  City  of  New  York, 
which  consists  of  nineteen  members,  composed  of 
the  Presidents  of  the  Borough  Boards,  and  ten 
delegates  elected  by  the  Borough  Board  of  Manhat- 
tan and  the  Bronx,  and  five  by  the  Borough  Board 
of  Brooklyn.  They  are  elected  for  terms  of  one 
year,  and  receive  no  salary.  This  board  elects  its 
own  president.  It  has  the  management  of  all  the 
funds  of  the  department  and  enacts  all  general 
rules  and  regulations.  In  general  the  central  board 
has  charge  of  the  physical  conduct  of  all  schools, 
while  the  borough  boards  have  charge  of  their  edu- 

96 


cational  conduct;  but  their  jurisdictional  bounda- 
ries appear  confused.  The  central  board  appoints 
a  Superintendent  of  Buildings  with  appropriate 
duties;  also  the  City  Superintendent  of  Schools, 
whose  duty  it  is  to  visit  and  examine  all  schools; 
it  also  appoints  a  Board  of  Examiners  for  teach- 
ers ;  and  it  has  charge  of  the  retirement  fund.  The 
Borough  Boards,  or  as  they  are  otherwise  called 
the  School  Boards,  fix  the  salaries  of  teachers,  ap- 
point principals  and  teachers,  and  change  grades 
in  schools.  This  subject,  however,  has  since  been 
to  some  extent  regulated  by  special  act  of  the  Legis- 
lature. They  also  divide  their  respective  boroughs 
into  Inspection  Districts,  in  each  of  which  five 
Inspectors,  who  are  volunteer  citizens,  serving 
without  pay,  are  appointed  by  the  Mayor  to  con- 
stantly examine  into  the  conduct  of  the  schools, 
and  make  recommendations  and  reports  to  their 
Borough  Board.  Each  Borough  has  a  Superin- 
tendent of  Schools  and  a  Board  of  Assistant  Sup- 
erintendents. They  visit  all  schools  and  report 
to  the  City  Superintendent.  They  arrange  rules 
for  the  promotion  of  pupils  and  transfer  of  teach- 
ers, and  subject  to  the  rules  of  the  School  Board, 
they  assign  teachers.  They  also  try  teachers  on 
charges  and  recommend  books,  etc.,  to  the  School 
Board.  They  are  the  active  executive  force  in  the 
government  of  the  schools. 

In  addition  to  the  public  schools  of  the  city,  the 
College  of  the  City  of  New  York,  the  Normal  Col- 
lege and  the  Nautical  School,  are  also  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Board  of  Education. 

THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  HEALTH  is  adminis- 
tered by  the  Bo^rd  of  Health,  which  consists  of  the 

97 


President  of  the  Police  Board,  the  Health  Of&cer 
of  the  Port  (a  State  officer),  and  three  Commis- 
sioners, of  whom  two  at  least  must  be  practicing 
physicians.  The  Commissioner  who  is  not  a  phy- 
sician is  the  President  of  the  Board.  The  Commis- 
sioners are  appointed  by  the  Mayor  for  terms  of 
six  years  and  receive  salaries  of  |6,000  a  year  each. 
There  are  two  bureaus  in  this  department,  headed 
respectively  by  the  Sanitary  Superintendent  and 
the  Kegistrar  of  Records,  the  latter  having  one 
deputy  in  each  borough. 

The  powers  of  this  department  are  very  extensive. 
All  marriages,  births  and  deaths  must  be  recorded 
with  it,  and  physicians  must  at  once  report  to  it 
all  cases  of  contagious  diseases.  The  Board  may 
also  make  rules  as  to  reports  to  it  by  the  Coroners. 
It  enacts  and  may  amend  at  any  time  the  sanitary 
code,  which  has  all  the  force  of  a  city  ordinance; 
it  may  call  on  the  police  for  assistance,  and  very 
severe  provisions  are  contained  in  the  Charter  for 
the  punishment  of  disobedience  to  its  rules  and 
orders.  The  Charter  also  contains  provisions  for 
proceedings  by  it  to  abate  nuisances.  The  Board 
may  cause  lands  to  be  filled  in  at  the  expense  of  the 
owners ;  may  destroy  unsound  articles  of  food ;  and 
where  houses  are  infected  or  uninhabitable  may 
cause  the  same  to  be  condemned  by  suit  and  de- 
stroyed, and  in  certain  aggravated  cases  when  it 
does  so  need  only  pay  for  the  value  of  the  materials 
in  the  buildings.  It  is  also  the  duty  of  this  Board  to 
enforce  the  Tenement  House  Law,  so-called,  which 
is  a  statute  passed  several  years  ago  regulating  the 
building,  use  and  inspection  of  tenement  houses 
in  the  city,  and  which  is  re-enacted  in  the  Charter ; 
but  the  Building  Department  doubtless  has  juris- 

98 


diction  over  the  provisions  relating  to  the  build- 
ing of  such  houses.  The  city  is  without  power  to 
modify  this  law. 

THE  BUKEAU  OF  MUNICIPAL  STATISTICS 
is  a  new  body  consisting  of  a  Chief  of  Bureau,  ap- 
pointed by  the  Mayor  for  a  term  of  four  years,  with 
a  salary  of  |3,500,  and  not  more  than  six  Commis- 
sioners appointed  by  the  Mayor  for  terms  of  six 
years,  and  who  serve  without  pay.  They  are  to 
devise  and  carry  out  plans  for  the  collection  and 
publication  of  such  statistical  data  relating  to  the 
city  as  they  may  deem  advisable.  The  head  of  each 
city  department  upon  a  request  from  the  Commis- 
sion made  through  and  approved  by  the  Mayor, 
must  transmit  to  the  Commission  such  statistical 
data  relating  to  his  department  as  it  may  call  for. 
The  Commission  ^^shalP'  with  the  approval  of  the 
Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment,  publish 
annually  a  volume  to  be  known  as  the  "Municipal 

Statistics  of  the  City  of  New  York  for  the  year " ; 

and  there  are  lengthy  provisions  as  to  what  sta- 
tistics shall  be  included  in  this  publication.  But 
it  is  provided  that  the  annual  expenses  of  this 
bureau  shall  not  exceed  $10,000,  unless  otherwise 
provided  by  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportion- 
ment and  the  Municipal  Assembly.  The  sum  of 
$11,200  has  been  appropriated  for  this  bureau  for 
the  year  1900,  $10,700  of  which  is  for  salaries.  The 
Commission  has  met  to  organize,  but  has  done 
nothing  further  and  has  published  nothing.  It 
has  no  power,  being  entirely  dependent  upon  the 
Mayor  and  other  Boards,  and  as  now  constituted 
is  useless.  '        <■ 

There  are  three  elaborate  codes  for  the  condemna- 


tion  of  land  included  in  the  Charter.  The  first 
governs  proceedings  for  procuring  land  for  reser- 
voirs, and  to  protect  the  water  supply ;  the  second, 
for  streets,  parks,  sewers,  wharves,  bridges  and 
tunnels;  and  the  third,  for  all  other  purposes,  in- 
cluding school  sites  and  public  buildings.  The 
proceedings  have  been  briefly  described  hereinbe- 
fore, and  they  are  very  similar  in  all  cases,  the 
only  substantial  difference  being  that  in  the  second 
class  of  proceedings  assessments  for  benefit  are 
laid  on  the  surrounding  property,  as  well  as  awards 
for  damages  for  the  property  taken  to  which  the 
other  two  proceedings  are  confined.  The  framers 
of  the  Charter  made  a  mistake  in  not  codifying  the 
rules  for  these  proceedings  into  one  code.  It  would 
have  avoided  much  redundancy,  and  a  proper  codi- 
fication would  have  cured  many  inconsistencies 
and  avoided  much  confusion.  And  it  has  also  been 
a  source  of  considerable  regret  among  those  fa- 
miliar with  the  cumbersome  and  expensive  system 
of  condemnation  that  has  prevailed  here  for  many 
years  that  the  opportunity  was  not  taken  to  amend 
and  simplify  the  general  method  itself. 


THE  END. 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF  . 

100 


I 


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